Turnabout of the Soul
by Cyberbanjo
Summary: In the process of solving his latest case, Phoenix becomes acquainted with a spirit called Sissel. But when another puzzling murder occurs, the two of them must join forces if they hope to prevent further tragedy. And who are these odd foreigners?
1. Turnabout Bakery

_Yep, here we are. The inevitable Ghost Trick/Phoenix Wright crossover. I've been wanting to write this since I finished Ghost Trick, but since mysteries naturally require a lot more plotting than your average fanfic, I'm only now able to finally start posting it. Of course, there are massive spoilers for Ghost Trick, as well as the first three Ace Attorney games here. Odds are, there won't be any from Apollo Justice or Ace Attorney Investigations, but if there are, I'll be sure to let everyone know beforehand._

* * *

Prologue: Turnabout Bakery

Murder. Why was it that wherever Sissel went, there was always a murder? Sure, being the supernaturally gifted pet cat of a detective did tend to lend itself to visiting crime scenes, but this was different. Not only was he _not _with his usual 'owner' (a term neither of them really took seriously), but they weren't even inside the correct jurisdiction!

"They're… dead." The redheaded woman at his side said, solemnly breaking the silence. And then she suddenly broke into a huge grin that most people would consider highly inappropriate at this point in time. Of course, Sissel wasn't most people. "Well, time to do your thing, Sissel!"

Some explanations were probably in order. Lynne had recently gotten in the habit of taking Detective Jowd's cat to crime scenes with her, specifically murders. Lynne had occasionally gotten strange comments about her sudden fixation with the cat, but considering Sissel was able to go back in time and avert the murder before it happened a good eight out of ten times, such comments tended to get erased from history.

However, retroactively averting murders could only be done so many times before it started to get stale, cynical as it sounded. But just as Sissel was thinking of taking a week off, Lynne stumbled across an interesting story in the newspaper.

'_Murder From Beyond The Grave!' _The headline exclaimed in bold letters. Apparently, a month previously, a murder occurred at a temple located in the deep in the mountains near Los Angeles. _(There were mountains near Los Angeles?)_ That wasn't the strangest thing, however. The news article mentioned that the spirit of a young woman was called back from beyond the grave via the "Kurain Channelling Technique" and almost took out some sort of postmortem revenge on another young woman before she was stopped - and the medium subsequently killed - by an LA Prosecutor. Now, the article didn't seem to really be taking the story too seriously and mostly only used it for the snappy headline (for one thing, even if it was true, the only murder that actually occurred was clearly perpetrated by a living man), but upon further research, the Kurain Channelling Technique itself looked like it might be legitimate. Especially since one of the few sources Lynne could find seemed to attribute their supernatural powers to some boulder in their village.

The Temsik meteorite was what gave Sissel his ability to perform ghost tricks. Could it be that there was another similar stone out there? If this Kurain Village was the real deal, maybe they could shed some light on the origin of Temsik itself. Sissel knew he _had _to investigate it, and it was easy enough to convince Lynne to give him a hand. It might have been nice if Detective Jowd could have come too, but he was far too busy down at the precinct to take a few days off. Speaking of which, Sissel wasn't sure how Lynne was able to convince the chief to let her leave town and investigate a bunch of spirit mediums… Sissel sincerely hoped that she hadn't just up and left. Not even Lynne would do that, right? _Right?_

Regardless, they were in LA now. After discovering no buses actually went to Kurain Village, (really, shouldn't have Lynne checked on that beforehand?) they were on their way to the train station to test their luck there. Unfortunately Lynne, like usual, was hungry. Seeing as there didn't seem to be any chicken restaurants nearby, they'd ducked into the nearest bakery. However, the entire place was devoid of all life; there wasn't even anyone manning the cash register. As expected, Lynne took it upon herself to figure out what going on and a quick look in the back room revealed that the bakery was indeed devoid of all _life_.

On the floor were two corpses, a man and a young woman, both shot in the chest. Judging from the blood, the murder had been recent and the gun was nowhere to be found. If Lynne and Sissel were anyone else, they might have panicked. But really, this was just par for the course by now.

"_Take care of my body." _Sissel said before entering the ghost world and jumping to a nearby tray of cookies. With his soul now inside the tray, his shell crumpled to the ground.

"You've got it." Lynne said, scooping up the apparently unconscious black kitten. Of course, if Sissel succeeded, there really wouldn't be much 'taking care of' to be done. Besides, his shell was immortal anyway. Really, the only reason they did this was in order to make sure Sissel could find it again. He'd already seen what could happen if one left their body unattended.

Now the question was who to save? Sissel wondered, eying the two bodies. Odds were if he could prevent one of the deaths, he could likely prevent the other at the same time, but it was likely whoever he specifically chose to save would end up remembering the experience. In the end he chose the man, who was probably less likely to be traumatized by the memory when compared to the girl laying near him who was probably in her late teens. Besides, he was closer.

_(Here goes…) _Sissel thought, reaching out to the man with his spirit.

An instant later, he was in the world of the dead. Before him was the familiar blue flame of a soul that hadn't taken a form. Was the murder so recent that the man was unconscious? That might save a lot of trouble, actually…

"_Hey, you awake?" _Sissel asked.

"_I… I think so." _Came a voice from the soul. Well, it wasn't really a voice, more like a projected thought, but the effect was the same. _"What's happening? Who are you?"_

"_My name is Sissel." _The cat replied. _"And you're dead."_

"_I see…" _The soul replied.

"_So you believe me? You're taking this rather well." _Sissel observed.

"_A talking cat just appeared and told me that I'm dead." _The soul continued. _"I might as well take him at his word. But as for me 'taking this well…'" _He paused. _"I guess I wouldn't be a lot more worried if I could actually remember anything."_

"_So I see your memory hasn't returned yet." _Sissel observed, his sympathy for the soul suddenly increasing. _"Take a look at those two bodies there. They might jog your memory."_

"_So that there on the ground… is me?" _The soul asked. In a bright flash of light, it was replaced by the image of the girl, sans bullet wound. She was wearing… well, Sissel didn't actually know how to describe it. It was _some _sort of robe, with an odd bead necklace as well. Her long black hair was tied up in an… what was that? Sissel had heard the word "topknot" once before, figured that was probably close enough. _(Huh… why am I suddenly in the mood for burgers?) _The soul thought.

"_Better than chicken." _Sissel muttered.

"_Huh? How did you do that?"_

"_Do what?"_

"_You read my mind, or something!"_

Sissel sighed, or did whatever the approximation was when one wasn't actually breathing. _"There are no secrets in the ghost world." _He said that phrase so often that it was now starting to sound rehearsed._ "Either way, though, that's not your body." _He nodded in the direction of the other corpse.

"_Oh!" _There was another flash and the image of the girl was replaced by one of a man in a blue suit with a red tie. On his lapel was a small circular golden badge and his black hair somehow stood back in large spikes. Sissel might have commented, but compared to Yomiel, this man looked like the epitome of normalcy._ "I… I think I remember now!" _He declared. _"I'm a lawyer… a defense attorney. My name is… Nick? No… _Phoenix _Wright."_

"_That's good." _Sissel observed. Knowing who one was often helped with remembering the basics. It certainly would have helped him during that fateful night…

"_**HOLD IT!"**_Phoenix suddenly shouted, pointing dramatically at the cat. When Sissel recoiled in surprise, the man sheepishly responded, _"Sorry, I'm not sure what came over me there. What was this 'fateful night' you were talking about?"_

"_Never mind." _Sissel replied. _"Do you remember how you or this girl died?"_

The suited man shook his head. _"No, sorry. But I feel like we were in the middle of something really important…" _He lowered his eyes sadly. _"And I can't help but feel that it's my fault the girl got killed." _He brought his hand to his chin. _"Ugh… if only I could remember!"_

"_Well why don't we find out?"_

"_Huh?"_

"_I'm going to take us back four minutes before you died." _Sissel explained. _"That should help us answer some questions, and, if we're lucky, I should be able to save you and that girl."_

"_R-really?" _Phoenix shouted. _"Then let's do it! We've got to save Maya!"_

"_Maya? Is that the girl?"_

"_Yeah… yeah, I think it is." _Phoenix looked thoughtful. _(This feeling… that I need to save her at any cost… it seems familiar somehow…)_

"_Alright then." _Sissel declared. _"Let's get to work."_

* * *

_Four minutes before death…_

The bell above the entrance to bakery signaled the arrival of one Phoenix Wright. He stepped inside the establishment, followed by his longtime assistant Maya Fey. Despite it being the middle of the day, the entire building was empty save for a large man in a chef's hat behind the cash register. In fact, he looked a lot like another chef Phoenix had met once before, only with a lot less pink. And a lot more masculinity.

"Ah, welcome back, Mr. Wright." The chef said boisterously. "Any luck with your investigation?"

"Sort of." Phoenix replied. "I was wondering if I could ask you a couple more questions." He noticed Maya glance over at him, but Phoenix ignored her and instead kept his focus on the man. In another situation, he might have commented on her remarkable restraint, especially considering all of the pastries she'd attempted to pilfer the last time they were here. Of course, he was pretty sure she had a good idea of what he was thinking. If he was right, then this was no time for Maya to be thinking of her stomach.

"But I've already told you all I know." The chef, Christopher Saant, replied, looking a bit nervous.

"I'll be the one to decide that." Phoenix declared. "Now, where exactly were you when the murder took place?"

Immediately, Phoenix heard the familiar sound of rattling chains as his perception of everything, save the chef himself, faded and five red locks appeared between the two of them. "I… I was here, like I said before." Chris said, hesitating only for a moment, not that it mattered. The locks were all Phoenix needed to see.

_(Just as I thought.) _Phoenix dug into his pocket and felt the familiar smooth surface of the Magatama. "**TAKE THAT!**" He shouted, presenting the green gem to the chef.

"Ah!" The chef shouted in surprise, grabbing a baguette off of the counter and holding it in front of himself as if it could protect him from Phoenix's words. "W-watch where your shoving that thing! I almost had a heart attack!"

"You say you were here during the murder…" Phoenix began, not acknowledging the man's outburst. "Why do I get the feeling you're not telling me the whole truth?"

"I have no idea." Chris replied, composing himself. "If I say I was here, then I probably was. Why? Do you think you have some proof that I was somewhere else, or something?"

Phoenix didn't bat an eye. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"Really?" Chis looked skeptical. "Well then let's see it."

"**TAKE THAT!**" Phoenix shouted, flashing a photograph of a young woman. "It's not so much an it, as a who." He conceded. "Do you by any chance know who this person is?"

The chef shook his head so furiously that his hat almost fell off. "No. I've never seen her before in my life." He said, looking rather triumphant.

Phoenix smirked. "No, I suppose you wouldn't have. This young woman is the one who discovered the body in the bakery across the street." Chris' smile faltered for just a second. Phoenix continued. "At the trial today, she testified that she came in here first, and that no one else was around. When she was unable to get anything here, she tried visiting the other bakery, which is when she discovered the fresh corpse. In other words…" He dramatically slammed the countertop with both palms. Chris jumped in surprise. "Since the timing of her visit coincides with the murder itself, you clearly were not here at that time!"

One of the locks shattered as the unfortunate chef recoiled as if he was struck. "B-but it's possible I was in the back room, right?" He said, recovering. "Yeah, that's where I was! I must not have heard the bell over the door!"

"Sorry, but that's not possible." Phoenix said, resisting the urge to perform a cocky finger wag reminiscent of more than one prosecutor he'd faced in the past. Instead, he reached into the pocket of his blazer to produce a sheet of paper. "**TAKE THAT!**" He yelled, displaying the sheet.

"And what's _that_ supposed to be?"

"I'm glad you asked. I believe you remember that there was a motion sensor installed in the back room, correct? I have the records of said sensor right here."

Chris suddenly looked nervous, twisting the baguette uncomfortably. "Where did you get that?"

Phoenix didn't bother answering. "According to these records, there was _no _motion in the back room for a fifteen minute gap that coincides with the murder!"

The second lock shattered. "S-so what?" Chris shouted angrily. "Maybe I was sleeping back there!"

_(There are SO many things wrong with that that I'm not even going to justify it with a response) _"There's more."

"M-more…?" Chris was positively sweating now, and that baguette didn't look like it was going to last much longer.

Phoenix nodded. "Not only were you not _here_, but you were somewhere else you shouldn't have been. **TAKE THAT!**" He displayed yet another sheet of paper.

"_Stop doing that!_"

"I'll stop when you stop lying."

"I'm _not_! So what if I wasn't here? Where I actually was has nothing to do with the murder!"

"Oh really? Then could you explain why your fingerprints were found on the counter at the crime scene?"

"Huh?"

"This sheet of paper is the fingerprint records for the crime scene. They very clearly say the prints of one Chris Saant were found on the countertop!"

"Ugh!" Yet another Psyche-Lock shattered, leaving only two left. "Look, it's no secret there was some bad blood between me and Pat." Chris began carefully. "But I still sometimes would stop by his shop for one reason or another. Heck, I think I went last week to yell at him for stealing the recipe of my famous 'Chris Saant's Crescent Rolls…'"

_(Wouldn't it fit more to call them croissants?) _Phoenix thought, raising his eyebrow. Maya probably made a comment as well, but Phoenix often found himself unable to hear her when he was focusing on Psyche-Locks. He supposed it was possible that she was just really quiet and enjoyed watching him work but, really, what were the odds of that?

"…Those prints were probably from then." Chris finished, breaking Phoenix out of his reflection.

Phoenix shook his head. "I'm sorry, but that's impossible. **TAKE THAT!**" He flashed another photograph, this time of another chef. "The victim, Pat Stree, was a well-known clean freak. Customers frequently mentioned they saw him meticulously wiping down the counters. In fact, the last witness to see the victim alive stated that he was cleaning the counters at that time. Therefore…" He pounded the counter again. "You could only have been there _during the murder itself_!"

The fourth Psyche-Lock shattered, leaving only a single crimson lock between Phoenix and the truth. Not that he didn't already have a good idea of what it was…

"I…!" Chris began, but Phoenix interrupted him.

"But that's not all!" The attorney continued. "Not only were you there during the murder, but _you _were the one to commit it!"

"P-prove it!" Chris shouted desperately, by now wringing his own sweat out of the baguette. "Yeah, I was there, but it was because I saw that defendant of yours… what was her name? Barley Waheet, right? I saw her stabbing Pat to death!"

"Really." Phoenix said skeptically. "Any reason why you didn't go to the police?"

"I…" Chris paused. "It was so traumatic that I must have blocked it out. But you just jogged my memory. Yeah, that's it!"

"I bet it _was _traumatic." Phoenix said, nodding his head before putting his hands on his hips. "I can only imagine how horrible it must be to kill a person."

"…Eh? I _told _you…"

"**TAKE THAT! **During the course of today's trial, I already proved that the defendant was suffering from a severe allergic reaction to a poppyseed muffin." Phoenix kept going, softly hitting the medical report he had just presented. "She was barely conscious at all, hardly in the condition to perform a murder." He slammed the counter for a third and final time. "Which means, the only one who could have done it was the only other person who was there!" He swung his arm forward, leveling his pointer finger right in the unfortunate chef's face. "_You, _Chris Saant!"

The baguette finally broke in half, just as the final Psyche-Lock shattered. Chris slumped down on the cash register as Phoenix smirked triumphantly. There. Now he could finally rest easy…

"Way to go, Nick!" Maya shouted as the rest of the world faded back into Phoenix's vision. "You sure showed him!"

_(Strange…) _Phoenix thought. Some of the items behind the counter seemed to be in different positions than they were before he started work on the lock. _(Did those things… move?) _He was about to ask Maya if something had happened while he was busy solving the locks, before…

"Heh… heh… heh…"

"Mr. Saant…?"

"I guess you figured it all out…" Chris Saant jumped back up, tearing a small pistol from the inside of the now-ripped baguette.

"H-huh?" Maya gasped.

"W-where did you get a pistol?" Phoenix added. _(That doesn't even make sense! Did he bake it into the baguette or something?)_

"You're completely right, Mr. Wright…" Chris said, the hand with the gun shaking furiously. "But I can't go to prison! Not after I finally got my crescent roll recipe back!"

Phoenix gulped. He'd _thought_ Chris' Psyche-Locks were easier to break than most killers. The man was unstable and Phoenix had just backed him into a corner. _(A cornered fox is more dangerous than a jackal…) _Phoenix recalled hearing that statement recently, but his mind was a little preoccupied to remember the details. "Just… calm down… we can figure something out…" See, _this _was why he'd stopped confronting killers outside of court. That time he'd gotten tazed was supposed to be the last time, but he'd ended up getting carried away using his usual court tactics without any bailiff around to protect him. _(Great. I get a _little_ carried away and now there's a crazy man pointing a gun at me. Just my luck.) "_Look, just let Maya go, okay?"

"N-Nick?"

"You only need to kill one of us, so you can let her go." Okay, that didn't make any sense, but Chris didn't really seem to be thinking straight anyways. Maybe they could still get out of this without anyone dying. Besides, there was a pretty big glass window in the front of the bakery. If someone just looked closely…

"Y-you probably think I'm pretty stupid, don't you?" The chef shouted. "I can't let either of you screw this up for me! Get in the back room!" He motioned at them with his gun, shuffling along with them from behind the counter.

And then something happened that none of them expected.

Just as Chris got in front of one of the cash registers, it spontaneously opened and slammed him in the stomach. "U-uh!" He grunted in surprise. His grip must not have been very good either, because the gun went flying right out of his hand. As it flew through the air, time seemed to slow down and both Phoenix and Chris looked at each other. Their eyes locked for a split second before they both made a break for the firearm. However, Chris only made it two steps before he stepped on a rolling pin that had somehow ended up on the floor. _(How did _that _get there?)_ He tumbled backwards with a loud crash, the impact of which made a stack of ceramic bowls fall off of the shelf above.

By now, Phoenix had reached the gun and watched in amazement as the bowls hit Chris Saant on the head and seemingly knocked him out. Either way, Phoenix had gotten his gun away from him, so it looked like he and Maya were safe.

"That was lucky…" Maya said, clearly shocked at the recent turn of events.

"_Really _lucky." Phoenix said, just as dumbfounded.

"Really_ really_ lucky-"

"I get it, Maya."

* * *

"_That was… _amazing!_" _The soul of Phoenix Wright shouted… or thought… or whatever he was doing. He sure _felt _like he was shouting.

"_It… it was nothing." _Sissel replied.

Phoenix blinked. That was odd. The cat sounded… strained. Oh well, maybe it was just a common thing. _"Do those tricks of yours usually tire you out this much?"_

"_That's not important." _Sissel said. Even so, Phoenix thought he sensed the start of a denial before he so adamantly changed the subject. _"Now that your fate has been averted, it's time to return to the new present."_

"_Oka-" _Phoenix began before he suddenly felt himself being sucked forwards in time. As he flew, he could feel all of the little details about his life returning. He'd remembered many things when Sissel was saving him, but there were a lot of intricacies that he could only now remember. His childhood with Edgeworth and Larry for example. Or, on a much less pleasant note, the time he was on trial for murder. Even so, he welcomed them all back, realizing he'd had a similar experience once before the _last _time he had amnesia. However, now he had two completely conflicting sets of memories about what happened in the bakery that day. Even though he knew he was alive, and could now clearly remember the mad dash for the gun that he had just witnessed his past self performing, he also had the very real memory of his death…

There was a lot that Phoenix still didn't understand, but he was grateful for the mysterious cat giving him a second chance at life. He smirked, or at least felt like he was. There was no way Maya would believe this!

Actually, she probably would.

_(Maybe I'll just keep quiet about it…)_

* * *

_And there's the prologue!__ I'm still a little worried about the characterization (especially of the GT crew), but this should be manageable, I think._

_ Man, there was way too little Maya and Lynne and way too much Psyche-Lock, wasn't there? I apologize about that, but I was trying to capture the general feel of your average mid-game AA case here. Don't worry, though. Next chapter will be soon and that's when the story _really _begins!_


	2. Introductions

Introductions

"Hey pal, you okay?"

Phoenix blinked. He was back in the bakery, that much was obvious, but why was Detective Gumshoe there too?

"Pal?"

_(Wait…) _Phoenix remembered. After Chris Saant was knocked out, he called the police, didn't he? That's right, he could already feel the memory becoming more clear. This was so weird. Had he really just had his life saved by a time traveling ghost cat? Or maybe it was some sort of hallucination caused by the emotional trauma of almost getting killed? Was that even possible? He'd have to look it up later.

"Mr. Wright! Can you hear me?"

"Ah!" Phoenix jumped, his focus snapping back to the situation at hand. For the most part, the bakery looked just as it did 'four minutes before his death,' or whatever. The only major difference was the presence of a couple of police officers who were busy investigating the area and taking the statement of some red-haired woman in a trenchcoat. Phoenix vaguely remembered her showing up a little before the police, but didn't get her name. As for Maya, she was nowhere to be seen. Oh well, she was probably being questioned somewhere else. "Oh, sorry about that. I was just… uh… thinking about something."

Gumshoe nodded. "I totally understand, pal. There was the one time when I was driving to a crime scene and got to thinking about whether I'd left my hot plate on. Man, I did _not _see that crossing gate-"

"I get it." Phoenix said, waving a hand. He _really _didn't want to hear where that story might go. "Don't you have a job to do?"

"Nah, the boys over there got it handled." The scruffy detective said, shrugging his broad shoulders. "After all, yours and Maya's statements seem to match up. Not that I'm surprised, if you know what I'm saying?" He said, giving Phoenix a playful nudge. "You two are around each other so often, I'm surprised you aren't finishing each others' sentences yet!"

"…Thanks?" Phoenix said uncertainly. _(Was that supposed to be a compliment?)_

"But anyways, it looks like Mr. Saant was the real killer, huh?" Gumshoe asked.

Phoenix nodded. "Considering he just tried to kill me…" He paused for a second, uncomfortably recalling the experience of getting shot, despite the fact that apparently didn't actually happen. "…I'm going to say yes."

Gumshoe rubbed the back of his head. "You're probably right about this one, pal. I guess that means the trial tomorrow should be a breeze for you, right?"

The lawyer nodded again. "Yeah, for once I'm not _too_ worried about the trial." With all of his evidence, as well as Chris Saant's attack, proving the defendant innocent would probably be a snap.

For a second, Gumshoe almost looked disappointed. Only for a second though. After that, he was grinning again. "Well, it looks like the others are finishing up. I'll see ya at the trial tomorrow, pal!"

"…Bye…" Phoenix said, waving rather halfheartedly after him. He still just couldn't focus on anything other than the time traveling he had supposedly just done. _(It sounds so impossible… but it seemed so real…) _He definitely needed to look up if severe stress could make you imagine things as fantastic as that. _(I don't even have that good of an imagination! That sounds like something _Maya _would think up!)_

Speaking of Maya, where was she? She hadn't shown back up when the police left. Phoenix felt a momentary surge of panic. She wasn't in trouble, was she? He could, after all, clearly remember the chef shooting her…

No, that didn't make sense. If Maya was hurt, then Gumshoe wouldn't have been talking about her so casually. Right about now, Phoenix was really annoyed at the fact that his memories of the last fifteen minutes or so were taking their sweet time to return. Not to mention the fact that he remembered two completely different versions of events… Couldn't he just get them all back at once and separated nicely, instead of annoying mixed-up bits?

There was still one option, though. That red-headed woman was still here. He may as well see what she knows…

"Excuse me…" He began as he approached her. "You haven't seen my friend, have you?"

"Oh hi!" The woman replied spunkily. _(Someone's had their coffee…) _Phoenix thought. Now that he was closer, I observed that compared to many people he'd met, she actually dressed rather normally. Well, aside from the large plastic badge pinned to her trenchcoat. Couldn't he ever meet someone without any strange quirks? "The girl in the robe? I think she's still playing with Sissel around back."

(_Sissel?) _Alarms went off in Phoenix's head. This woman knew Sissel? He managed to calm himself down enough to ask, "Sissel?" but he was sure she still saw the shock in his eyes.

"Yeah, he's my… or I mean, a friend of mine's cat."

Phoenix tried to remain calm. A cat? That couldn't be just a coincidence. As the two of them made their way to the back room, they introduced themselves. From what he heard, this woman was called Lynne. Once they reached the back room, he was relieved to see that, indeed, there was Maya, dangling a string above a small black kitten, who really only seemed to be batting at it out of obligation. Not Maya cared, judging from that giant grin of hers. "Hey Nick! Check it out! Isn't this little guy so cute?"

Phoenix blinked. For a second, he could have sworn he saw Maya… another Maya… on the floor in a puddle of blood. "Yeah, really cute." He said absentmindedly as he knelt down for a closer look. That cat sure _looked _like Sissel. He even had that same red bandanna tied around his neck. "Sissel?"

"_Yeah?" _

"Aah!" Phoenix leapt back. The cat had meowed, but there had been something else as well. A voice had just come out of nowhere! And that voice… This was unmistakably the cat that had just saved his life. _(So it's true… it's all true.)_

"Wow, Nick!" Maya laughed. "I never knew you were such a scardy-cat."

"_What's that supposed to mean?" _Sissel said, mewing indignantly.

"Aw, don't worry about mean old Nick." Maya said, consoling the kitten who honestly seemed more annoyed at Maya than anything. Strange, didn't she hear Sissel too? "He's an old fogey so he doesn't like animals very much."

Phoenix barely heard her. He was far too busy trying to block out the memory of dying alongside Maya, which he now was certain had actually happened. But why was he the only one able to remember it? Maya was a spirit medium, so shouldn't _she _be the one more in tune with this stuff?

"Excuse me, Mr. Wright?" Lynne asked. She looked a lot more serious than before. "Can I talk to you about something in private?"

"Uh, sure." Phoenix replied, eying Maya, who had already gone right back to cuddling the annoyed looking magical cat._ (You might not want to bother Sissel too much, Maya. He might turn you into a newt.)_

Once the two had gotten some distance away from Maya, Lynne spoke up. "From what I heard, it was really lucky how you got saved from that chef."

"Y-yeah." Phoenix said. There was an awkward pause. "So, uh… that's a really special cat you've got there."

"You can't _hear _him, can you?"

_(Huh?) _That was blunt. "Why? Can you?"

"As a matter of fact, I can." The woman said seriously, before spreading her mouth into a wry grin. "Unless, of course, I'm just pulling your leg."

_(No dice on that. There aren't any Psyche-Locks, which means she's telling the truth.) _"….Yeah, I can hear him." Phoenix admitted, feeling really stupid, Psyche-Lock or no.

Lynne perked up immediately. "I _thought _so! There's no way things happened the way you said they did without Sissel's help. Thank goodness. I was getting tired of walking on eggshells around you!"

"I'm… confused." Phoenix admitted. "It doesn't seem like Maya can hear Sissel, even though he saved both of us."

"Oh, that's an easy one." Lynne said. "I'm guessing originally, Sissel and I found both of your corpses when we came in here. Sissel must have picked your fate to be the one to avert, and just ended up saving that girl as a bonus!"

_(Do you really have to put it that way?) _At least this woman seemed to know about Sissel's time-travling powers in addition to the fact that he could 'talk'. Maybe she could shed some more light on the nature of the ghostly cat - which apparently had a body, now. "I was wondering, do you know how Sissel got the way he is?"

"That's a _long _story." Lynne said. "I'm sorry, but I don't really have time to get into it right now. It's starting to get kind of late and Sissel and I still need to figure out how to get where we're going."

"Oh? Where's that?"

"It's some place called… Kur-ayn Village, I think?"

Phoenix raised both of his eyebrows in surprise. "You main Kurain?"

Lynne nodded. "Yeah, that's right!" She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Wait, does that mean you know how to get there?"

"Oh boy." Phoenix said, sighing. "I sure do." _(It looks like everybody and their mother is looking for stuff about Kurain nowadays.) _Right after thinking it, he was very glad that he hadn't said it out loud. Even if she was seemingly out of earshot, he did not want to risk even the _possibility _of Maya overhearing him saying that… Not after _that _case. "If you don't mind me asking, what business do you have in Kurain Village?

"We're trying to get some information about something called the 'Kurain Channelling Technique.' You haven't heard of it, have you?" Lynne said without batting an eye. Phoenix wondered if she was being so nonchalant simply because she figured he'd take her seriously after meeting Sissel or if she honestly just didn't care about looking weird.

Phoenix almost laughed. "Oh yeah, I've heard of it." _(Have I heard of it, she asks!) _"Here, let's head back to Maya and Sissel. If we're going to talk about this, we may as well do it with the Master present."

"The 'Master'?"

* * *

"_Ah, welcome back, Mr. Wright. Any luck with your investigation?"_

"_Sort of. I was wondering if I could ask you a couple more questions." _

_Saving this blue lawyer shouldn't be too tough. Sissel decided. After all, he'd already been able to make if from the back room out to the front where the chef was set to draw a gun in, oh, three minutes or so. In fact, he could already see plenty of potential tools. There was knife here, a rolling pin there…_

"_Hmm… that rolling pin looks good." Sissel thought aloud._

"_Why not go for the knife?" The spirit of Phoenix Wright asked._

"_I'm trying to prevent a death, not cause one." The cat commented dryly. "Now I just need to find a way to get close enough to actually posses it."_

"_Good point… hey wait! Don't I hold up that green gem in a second?"_

"_That's right…" Sissel realized. That would make for the perfect jumping point._

_Right on time, the past Phoenix Wright thrust the oddly shaped piece of jewelry right at the chef. "__**TAKE THAT!**__"_

"_I wonder why I did that." The spirit of Phoenix Wright observed. "I mean, it's not like I'm giving it to him. And I have a weird feeling I do that pretty often…"_

"_If all goes according to plan, you should remember in a bit." Sissel reassured him before reentering the ghost world. As usual, his view of the world was suddenly tinted red as everything around him froze in place, but there was something he didn't expect to see at all. "…!"_

_Large waves were coming out of the gem. In fact, they looked a lot like…_

"_That's… that's impossible!"_

"_Sissel?"_

"_Your gem! Its radiation looks like the kind from the Temsik Meteorite!"_

"_The what?"_

_Sissel grit his ghostly teeth. Just who was this Phoenix Wright, and why did he have a piece of Temsik? Worst of all, his spirit didn't seem to know remember, so he couldn't just ask him. Now he _had_ to save this man. It was the only way he'd get some answers out of him._

_First things first, though. Sissel needed to get to that rolling pin. He jumped to a nearby cash register in order to get a little closer. While there, he observed that the radiation from the gem looked… different somehow. It looked a little more… structured than the energy coming from Temsik fragments. He wasn't quite sure how to describe it. (Whatever. I'll deal with this mystery after I save him.)_

_Sissel made his next jump to the gem itself, and instantly regretted it._

_Right when his ghost entered the strange object, Sissel found himself floating in the middle of a dark void. "Wh-what's going on here?" Unlike the world of the dead, which was characterized by a large red vortex, this place was empty. There was absolutely nothing there. Just pitch darkness. "Phoenix? Are you there?"_

_Sissel got a reply, but it was not the kind he would have liked. Instead of Phoenix, his entire presence was suddenly assaulted by the sound of a woman wailing. Even if he wasn't physically there, Sissel felt the hairs all over his body stand up. That sound… it was so horrible. _

_Then, to make things worse, Sissel heard the sound of rattling chains coming from all around him. "What the-?" Before he could do anything, the chains appeared and wrapped themselves around his spectral body. And then the wailing started again. Sissel shuddered violently, unable to tune out the awful noise. To his horror, he found that he was suddenly unable to control his form either. Sissel let out a yell as well as he saw his paws morph into human hands, but the voice was Lynne's, not his own. "Wh-what's going on here?" He shouted, but now he was Detective Jowd. Just what the hell had he possessed?_

"_**You're not supposed to be here."**__ Came a voice, distinct from the wailing woman._

_Sissel wanted to ask "huh?" but all that came out was a bark. He was Missile now._

_Before him appeared a small girl, probably a little younger than Kamila. Her hair was brown and arranged in odd loops on the top of her head and she wore a pink robe remarkably similar to that 'Maya' girl. But that wasn't was caught Sissel's eye. No, the two things that got his attention were the necklace she wore - shaped identically to the green gem - and the cold look in her eyes. Sissel couldn't help but think of the time Kamila was possessed._

_Speaking of Kamila, Sissel had now turned into the little lady. "Who are you? What's going on here?"_

"_**Your power, it is foreign. Alien." **__The girl continued, unaffected by Sissel's outburst._

_Sissel grimaced and noticed a large white coat on his body. So he was Cabanela now? Meanwhile, two blue soul flames had appeared behind the girl, flanking her. The girl herself then turned into an old woman, a large pale hood casting shadows over her eyes. Just looking at her gave Sissel an uncontrollable sense of dread._

"_**Your power should never have been mixed with mine."**_

"_Look! I didn't know!" Sissel shouted, now looking identical to Yomiel. In another situation he might have commented about being the red-suited man again, but he was a little preoccupied with the chains binding him. _

"_**You have further blurred the line between the living and the dead. Claiming ignorance will not change that."**_

"…_You're right." Sissel said, now a blue flame just like the two behind the woman. "But what can I do about it?"_

"_**The consequences shall make themselves known in due time." **__She said as the chains loosened themselves from Sissel and shot back into the darkness.__Then, the blue flames behind the woman faded, and she followed suit, leaving Sissel alone in the dark void for a moment before he too was ejected from the space._

"_Ah! W-watch where your shoving that thing! I almost had a heart attack!" The chef shouted at the past Phoenix Wright. Had any time even passed? Sissel's time in that dark void had felt so long… _

"_Sissel? Are you okay?" Phoenix Wright's soul asked._

"_It's nothing." Sissel said, even though he felt spiritually and mentally fatigued. (I want answers, but I have to prevent this murder first.) After all, if Phoenix couldn't remember the gem, it was doubtful he'd be able to explain what had just happened. (Just you wait, Phoenix Wright. I'm going to save you, and then you're going to tell me about that item of yours.) "Now about that rolling pin…"_

* * *

"Hey Sissel, don't go running off!" Maya said, scooping Sissel up. "Your owner will be back when she's done talking to Nick, okay?"

Sissel's whiskers twitched in annoyance. _He _needed to talk to 'Nick.' Sissel was tempted to abandon his body and just set out as a soul, but he was wary about leaving his shell unprotected after seeing what happened to Yomiel. Plus, this 'Maya' seemed to belong to the same clan as girl and young woman that had spoken to him in the black void. He really didn't feel comfortable leaving his shell alone with _her, _no matter how friendly she seemed. Not until he got some answers.

Luckily, Phoenix returned with Lynne at that very moment. Good. If he could just reach that core in the man's head… He'd been so close when Phoenix knelt down a little while ago…

"Hey Nick!" Maya said cheerfully. Man, she got over almost dying pretty fast. Then again, Lynne got over _dying _pretty fast. "What were you two talking about?"

"You'll never guess what Lynne is here researching." Phoenix said. "The _Kurain Channeling Technique._"

"Whoa!" Maya replied, squeezing Sissel in surprise. If he could feel anything, it might have actually hurt. "What a coincidence!"

Sissel perked up his ears. What was so coincidental about it?

"Maya Fey, at your service!" Maya said, giving a little bow. "I'm the current Master of the Kurain Channelling Technique. What can I do for you?"

Both Sissel and Lynne's eyes widened in surprise. That _was _a coincidence.

"Oh! Well, we're trying to find a way to the village." Lynne explained. "Sissel and I want to look into something called the 'Kurain Boulder.'"

"Kurain Boulder?" Maya asked, looking a little confused.

"Yeah. It's supposed to be linked to your spiritual powers or something?" Lynne replied. "They mentioned it in an article of 'Oh! Cult!' magazine…" She reached into her bag for a copy.

"Oh, _that _Kurain Boulder!" Maya said with a grin. "Sorry, I just see it so often that I kinda forget it's anything other than a big rock."

_(THIS __is the current Master?) _Sissel thought incredulously. Judging from Phoenix's expression, the lawyer was thinking something similar.

"Nick and I will take you there." Maya continued.

Phoenix gave Maya a look that said 'Are you crazy?' "Maya, it's getting a little late and we've got a trial tomorrow. Plus, the train ride is a good two hours. I don't think we've got time…"

Maya rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a stick in the mud, Nick. Tomorrow's trial is gonna be cake, now that Chris Saant tried to kill us."

Phoenix looked uncomfortable. "Y-yeah. Tried."

"I think we've got time to give them a quick a tour." Maya urged. "Right, Lynne?"

"Only as long as it's alright with you guys!" Lynne insisted. "I'm sure Sissel and I can find our way on our own if we need to."

Phoenix looked thoughtful for a minute before glancing right at Sissel.

"_You do owe me." _Sissel said, smirking a bit on the inside when I saw Phoenix jump at his voice.

"…Fine." The blue lawyer said, slumping his shoulders.

"Yay!" Maya shouted, jumping up and down. Lynne looked pretty pleased too. Even Sissel was satisfied. After all, a two hour train ride would be perfect to get some answers out of Phoenix Wright.

_(You're going to tell me what you know, Wright.)_

* * *

_And there we have it, Chapter Two! See, I _told _you the plot would start to actually go somewhere! Next up, Kurain Village! And before you ask, the Kurain Boulder is totally in the games. Seriously, you can examine it in the second case of _Justice for All_. Anything beyond that, though, I'm still going to keep quiet about. There was still too little Maya and Lynne if you ask me, but at least there was more of them than last time. After writing this, I can say one thing for certain_: _I _really _can't wait for Phoenix to tell Sissel what his Magatama is called. There are only so many synonyms for "green gem," which was starting to bug me by the end of this chapter._


	3. Kurain Village

_Ugh, only two chapters in and there was already a delay. I'm really sorry you guys; you deserve a lot better than that. I made the mistake of starting this fanfic with finals iminent, so when my tests actually came around, I was forced into a very unwanted hiatus. When I finally got past that, I realized there were some scenes in this chapter that I just couldn't seem to get right. Something I hadn't realized about writing a mystery like this was that the importance of making sure every scene works properly in order for everything to make sense. Still, I think I've got the hard part out of the way, at least for a while, so updates should become more frequent again. Until that, enjoy!_

* * *

Phoenix looked around in surprise. Just a second ago he'd been sitting on the train with Lynne, Maya and Sissel. But now… now he found himself staring at a swirling crimson vortex. He'd seen this place before, he realized, and that could only mean one thing.

"_I'm dead again, aren't I?" _He couldn't think of any other explanation for being back _here_.

"_Actually, no." _Came a reply. Obviously, it was Sissel, padding through the 'air' towards him.

Phoenix raised an eyebrow in interest. _"Then how did we get here? I thought this was the 'ghost world' or something like that."_

"_It's true that you come here when you die." _Sissel explained. _"But once I've saved someone's life with my ghost tricks, I can talk to them here whenever I want."_

"_So, what? We're talking psychically or something?" _Phoenix looked around. He wasn't entirely sure he believed in this mumbo-jumbo, but Sissel probably knew better than he did. _"Does that mean I'm just spacing out on the train or something?"_

Sissel blinked his large eyes. _"No. When we're in here, I'm pretty sure time stops in the outside world."_

"_Okay… So what's the point of all of this?"_

"_I needed to talk to you, and I thought it would be better to do it here so it didn't look like you were talking to yourself. There are some things I want to ask you about."_

"_Such as…?"_

"_Just _what_ is that green gem of yours?"_

Oh, right. Phoenix remembered Sissel wondering about it when they averted his death. He hadn't been able to remember back then, but now he would be able to answer Sissel's questions. He explained the origin of his Magatama, about how he'd gotten it from Maya and then had it charged with Pearl's spiritual energy, allowing him to see Psyche-Locks. Sissel seemed particularly interested in the idea of 'locks' on the hearts of others.

Sissel looked thoughtful._ "There wouldn't happen to be… chains, would there?"_

"_Yeah, there are." _Phoenix nodded. _"How did you know that?" _Maybe Sissel read his mind?

"_I can only know your surface thoughts." _Sissel assured him. _"I'm not able to actually go digging around in other people's heads for information, and I wouldn't do that even if I could."_

"_But then how did you know about the chains?" _Phoenix asked.

"_Mr. Wright, do you know anything about _how _the Magatama works, or where its powers come from?"_

Phoenix was a little annoyed, considering _he_ was usually the one asking the questions, but he answered anyways. Besides, if his witnesses were half as cooperative as he was trying to be, his trials would probably go a lot better. _"Besides the fact that Pearls charged it with her energy, I have no idea."_

"_I see." _Sissel replied. _(It looks like I'll have to go see what info I can gleam from this 'Pearls.')_

"_Well, she should be at Kurain." _Phoenix shrugged, immediately feeling a little awkward about responding to an idle thought. Well, it was too late now. _"But how will you be able to learn anything? I thought you could only talk to people you save."_

"_You'd be surprised at what you can glean through just watching."_

The were both silent for a moment.

"_I guess that's it, then." _Sissel said, sounding disappointed. _"Well, let's go back to the world of the living…_

"_Wait!" _Phoenix said, holding up an arm. _"I told you what I knew about the Magatama, but I still don't know anything about where _you _came from."_

"_It's a long story."_

"_Time is frozen."_

"_Touché."_

And so Sissel explained his origin to Phoenix. To tell the truth, there was a lot of confusing time travel that Phoenix couldn't quite wrap his head around. Regardless, he got the gist of it. Apparently, the cat got his powers from a fragment of some meteorite called "Temsik." _(That would explain why he's so interested in the Kurain Boulder…)_ Oddly, Sissel wouldn't tell him much about the meteorite itself. Of course, a lot of that came from the fact that Sissel himself didn't know that much, but Phoenix still got the impression that Sissel was hiding something. This whole "no secrets in the ghost world" thing wasn't really the best way to describe it…

Either way, they'd both gotten the information they wanted, so Sissel brought them back to the world of the living.

* * *

"I'm telling you, burgers are the way to go." Maya insisted. "I mean, you have so much freedom with it! Cheese, onions, pickles, bacon, you can practically put whatever you want on a burger and it's still good!"

"Are you kidding?" Lynne replied, looking aghast. "You've clearly never been to the Chicken Kitchen. A boring meat patty can't even _begin _to compare to their succulent golden-brown delicousness!"

Sissel shot a look to Phoenix, who rolled his eyes. Hmm. Maybe he had more in common with that lawyer than he first thought.

"So Lynne," Phoenix said, quite clearly wanting to talk about something else. "How did a detective like you first get interested in the Kurain Channelling Technique?

"Oh, that's an easy one!" Lynne said, reaching back into her bag and pulling out a newspaper. "Look at this: '_Murder From Beyond the Grave.' _Pretty cool, huh? Although I guess the title's a bit wrong. I mean, it says the killer was some prosecutor, not the ghost. It would have been better if the spirit had actually succeeded, right?" She said with a laugh.

"Put that away."

Both Lynne and Sissel glanced at Phoenix and then at each other. The lawyer's calm, if slightly snarky demeanor had suddenly shifted to deadly seriousness. Even a few of the other people on the train looked at him nervously.

"Nick…" Maya said, her eyes downcast sadly.

"S-sorry." Lynne said, hastily shoving the paper back into the bag. Something about that story had struck a nerve in both Phoenix and Maya, but what could it be? Sissel wished he could have read the article himself instead of just getting a secondhand report from Lynne. "Sorry if this is crossing a line, but what's the problem?"

"We don't talk about that case." Phoenix said simply and still serious, before glancing warily at Maya.

"…Nick, it's okay." The spirit medium said, looking up. "You don't have to try to protect me from this. We can't keep pretending like it never happened."

"But Maya-"

"I'm stronger than you think, Nick." Maya said, flashing a smile that Sissel couldn't help but think was at least a little forced. "In the case from that news story." She began, turning to Lynne. "The channeled spirit was trying to kill me."

"O-oh." Lynne said. To say she looked like she regretted her little joke would be an understatement.

"The one who channeled her was my mother, Misty Fey." Maya continued. "She and the prosecutor they mentioned were trying to save me, but…" Her voice cracked. And that look in her eye… it reminded Sissel of whenever Kamila was made to think about the results her failed birthday contraption…

"I can take it from here." Phoenix said gently. Maya didn't say anything, but she nodded, clenching her fists in her lap. He hesitated "The prosecutor and Misty saved Maya… but Misty died in the process."

No one said anything for a time, just sitting silently with the only the sound of the train over the tracks and the soft murmur of the other passengers preventing the entire car from being engulfed in silence.

"I'm so sorry…" Lynne said finally. "The newspaper withheld your name, so I didn't know…"

"That's alright." Maya said, wiping her eyes and smiling again. "They say on TV that sometimes it's best to talk about these things." She looked at Lynne. "So what were you saying about a 'chicken kitchen?'"

* * *

The rest of the train ride passed without incident. Lynne clearly didn't want to carelessly open up another can of worms, so she stuck to more… innocent topics. Like the Chicken Kitchen, much to Phoenix and Sissel's chagrin.

"_Does she _always _talk about food?" _Sissel asked, slinking after Phoenix as the man exited the train.

"Usually." Phoenix said softly. It looked like he wanted to say more, but must have decided against while still in the same proximity as the few other passengers on the train, especially Maya. Many times Sissel had been tempted to establish a link with Phoenix or Lynne in order to have a conversation to pass the long train ride, but the fact that it froze time would have made it pretty counterproductive.

Strangely, after spending so much time alongside Maya, Sissel noticed that she seemed to have a faint core in her head, similar to Phoenix's and Lynne's. But that didn't make any sense. Sure, Sissel had saved her when he saved Phoenix, but only the person he used to go back in time should have a core. And besides, hers was faint and hard to see, like it was only partially there. Sissel tried to reach out to it spiritually a couple of times on the train, but he was unable to get a grip on the core. Yet another mystery about the users of the Kurain Channelling Technique.

"Well, here we are!" Maya said cheerfully, motioning at the village around her. "Kurain Village!"

_(She seems remarkably cheerful for someone whose mother died so recently.) _Sissel observed. But that wasn't quite true, was it? The girl had seemed… off since their conversation about Misty Fey on the train. Of course, that made perfect sense. They had inadvertently made her think about the painful fact that her mother was gone. Even if she was acting happy now, it would take a while before she could focus on other things. Sissel understood that much from his observations of people.

Moving on, Kurain Village was like nothing Sissel had ever seen before in his life… or death, for that matter. The buildings looked odd, not seeming to have doors or windows of any kind. Rather, certain walls looked like they were made out of paper, or some similar material. The roofs and supports seemed to be made of wood, but it too looked different than the kind Sissel was used to seeing. There were a few people milling about in robes, but overall the place seemed pretty deserted. Sissel kept an eye out for that hooded woman or the girl that he had seen while possessing the Magatama, but he saw neither. Not that he really expected to. Additionally, there were quaint little ponds and gardens scattered throughout. Frankly, the only things that Sissel could readily recognize for sure were a rather old looking phone booth and bus stop. What stood out the most, though, was a large stone monolith in the distance. _(Could that be…?)_

"This place is really Japanese for LA." Lynne observed. "I feel like we just walked into a samurai movie!"

Maya rubbed the back of her head and laughed a little. "Yeah, we get that a lot."

Japanese? Was this how things looked in Japan? Sometimes Sissel got annoyed about the things that everyone seemed to understand things better than him. Too bad Missile wasn't here. Despite being a dog, it was times like these that he found him to be more relatable than the people.

"Sorry, but can we hurry this up?" Phoenix asked impatiently checking the clock on his cell phone - a model which seemed horribly out of date even to Sissel. "There's only one more train back to the city tonight, and it's not too long from now."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Maya said. "Jeez, Nick! You need to learn to relax a little!"

"I just don't want our client getting declared guilty tomorrow when we could easily prove them innocent." Phoenix replied.

"I'm sorry for the trouble." Lynne said, looking uncomfortable. "Sissel and I probably could have found our way here ourselves…"

"It's no trouble at all!" Maya said with a grin. "Nick's just a big worry-wart, that's all!"

"Can we just go to the Kurain Boulder please?" Phoenix said, slumping his shoulders once again. It seemed like Maya could really wear the man out. Thinking about it, they actually had a similar dynamic to Sissel and Lynne.

_(I feel your pain, Phoenix Wright.)_

After they made their way to the Kurain Boulder, the first thing Sissel did was give it a look from the ghost world. As expected, it was giving off radiation quite similar to the Temsik meteorite. Sissel looked around for a core, but could find none. There were a couple on the paper tags draped over it, as for a placard next to it, and a nearby shack, but none on the boulder itself. Not that such a fact particularly disappointed him, considering how much pain one tiny Magatama had put him through.

"So this is the Kurain Boulder, huh?" Lynne asked as Sissel returned his perception to the world of the living. "Doesn't really look much like a boulder to me."

"You know, she has a point." Phoenix observed. "Aren't boulders usually round, instead of so rectangular?"

"Sheesh, you guys." Maya pouted. "What would you call it? Kurain Rectangle?" She paused, looking thoughtful. "Actually…"

"Boulder's fine." Phoenix said in a definitive manner.

"_This is it." _Sissel said. _"It's giving off radiation like the Temsik meteorite."_

"So, Maya." Lynne began, pretending not to have heard the cat. "What's the story behind this thing?"

Maya shrugged. "I dunno. Let's check the placard." Phoenix slapped himself in the face.

"_That looked painful." _

"I really shouldn't be surprised…" The lawyer muttered.

"I was just kidding." Maya said, looking a little annoyed herself. "…Mostly." Sissel caught her glancing at the placard for a just moment before beginning to explain. "Basically, we're not sure where the Boulder came from, but it's said to have been the source of Ami Fey's powers."

"_Ami Fey?" _Sissel asked.

"She founded the Fey Clan, right?" Phoenix asked Maya.

"Uh, _yeah_." Maya said, giving Phoenix a look. "How could you forget after everything that's happened?"

"I was… uh… just clarifying for the others." Phoenix said lamely.

"Oh, I already knew that." Lynne admitted. "They mentioned it in the 'Oh! Cult!' article."

"_I guess I'm the only one not in the loop here." _Sissel muttered, a bit annoyed.

"Anyway," Maya continued, "It's a village tradition that whenever someone is born into the Fey family, it is done in that hut there." She gestured at the small shack by the Kurain Boulder. Sissel didn't know much about human births, but he felt like that thing couldn't possibly be properly accommodated. "Legend has it that at that moment the newborn absorbs some of the spiritual energy of their ancestors."

"_Interesting." _Sissel thought aloud. _"Instead of dying in the presence of the rock, they are born in it." _That might explain why her powers seemed decidedly different from his. However, the radiation coming from the rock itself appeared to be slightly different as well. That could very well have something to do with it too. Either way, Maya seemed to have some misconceptions - probably born from generations of superstition and tradition - but her overall theory was sound.

At this moment, a robed woman that Sissel didn't recognize ran up to them. "Mystic Maya! Where have you been? You need to run training exercises for the acolytes."

"Hehehe, oh right. I forgot about that." Maya said, rubbing the back of her head and smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, I was helping Nick with a case. Can't another one of the acolytes do it? Or maybe Pearly? She's pretty good at channeling."

Sissel's ears perked up. _(Pearly?)_

The robed woman gave Phoenix a disparaging look before saying, "Mystic Maya, you're the Master of the Kurain Channeling Dojo now and thus have a duty to the members of the village. You can't keep running off like this every time Mr. Wright has a case."

Maya looked guilty. "…Maybe you're right." She made to follow the robed woman before turning back to the others. "I'll be done in a bit, you guys. Feel free to head to the Fey Manor and get something to eat." The robed woman shot the group a final dirty glance before leading Maya off.

"What was that all about?" Lynne said.

"Maya…" Phoenix said quietly. "Since she's the Master, she has a lot of things to take care of here in Kurain." He explained. "From the looks of things, more than I thought." He paused. "Well, is there anything else you two need to see?"

"_I don't think so."_ Sissel replied. It looked like there wasn't as much info on the Boulder as he hoped. Still, he could possibly gleam some more insight if he paid a visit to the Fey Manor.

* * *

As Phoenix led the woman and the cat to the ancestral Fey Manor, he couldn't help but recall the conversation Maya had just had with that acolyte. Maya _had _been spending an inordinate amount of time in the city with him, even compared to usual. And now with her duties as the Master… Phoenix couldn't understand what Maya was up to. Hadn't she realized the scope of her newfound responsibilities at the end of Iris' trial? Edgeworth and Mia seemed to think so. Heck, Phoenix himself had thought so.

But was that really fair? After almost two decades of absence, Maya's mother - and only remaining member of her immediate family - finally returned… only to get killed. Maya didn't even get to learn of her identity until afterwards! And then right after, she was expected to take over the Channeling School? Maya was no stranger to self-esteem problems, and she hadn't even had the opportunity to grieve properly. After all, Maya wanted to put on a brave face for Pearls, and the Kurain Channelling School tended to put tradition before emotions anyways. But he couldn't just blame everyone else without accepting some for himself. Phoenix grimaced. Some of that was his fault, considering how much effort he'd put into avoiding bringing up Misty's death. Maya was a strong person, no doubt about that, but if Phoenix himself didn't acknowledge that, it would make sense that Maya would want to avoid her responsibilities.

Phoenix made up his mind. He definitely needed to talk to Maya about this at some point very soon.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Wright?" Lynne asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"It's nothing." He replied. "Were you able to get the information you needed?"

"I'm not sure." Lynne answered. "To tell the truth, Sissel and I weren't really sure about what we were even looking for."

"_Yeah." _Sissel agreed. _"Still, this has already been pretty enlightening. We may not know anything more about the _origin _of the Temsik meteorite, but it's now clear that there is more than one stone that grants supernatural powers." _

"Well, glad we could at least be some help." Phoenix replied. "After saving me and Maya like that…"

"_It was nothing."_ The cat replied. _"I'm not the kind of guy who would just let two people get killed if I could save them."_

"So what _did _happen before Sissel changed the past?" Lynne asked.

Phoenix gulped. He _really_ didn't like to think about it. "Uh… I guess the chef led Maya and me to the back room, where he… shot us." He was pretty sure he'd finally been able to remember everything and distinguish between the two timelines, but it still was not a pleasant thing to consider.

Lynne must have sensed his discomfort, because she quickly turned apologetic. "Sorry… that's probably not something you want to think about, is it?"

Phoenix slumped his shoulders again. "Not really."

"_You'll have to forgive Lynne." _Sissel explained. _"She's died so often that she sometimes forgets that it pretty traumatic for most people."_

That made Phoenix stand up straight again. "You have?" He hadn't really considered it, but I made sense that Lynne would had to have died before in order to be able to hear Sissel.

"Oh yeah." Lynne nodded with a big smile. "I've been shot, blown up, crushed by a giant chicken, drowned…" She began, counting off on her fingers.

"Wait, what did you just say?"

"Drowned?"

"No, before that."

"Blown up?"

"_After _that."

"Crushed by a giant chicken?"

"That's the one."

"So?"

"What does that even _mean_?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like!"

"…"

Phoenix was at a loss for words, but that was all right because a certain somebody arrived to break the silence.

"Oh! Mr. Nick! I didn't know you were visiting. Hello!" Came the voice of one Pearl Fey.

"Hey Pearls." Phoenix replied, dropping to one knee in order to greet the young prodigy who had just run up. "I actually wasn't planning on it either, but Lynne here," He gestured to the detective. "Was researching the Kurain Boulder."

"Mr. Nick." The small girl said, suddenly sounding serious. "Who is this woman?"

Lynne, having never met Pearl before, probably just assumed she was being shy, so she said, "It's nice to meet you. I just met Phoenix, but he's a very good man. You must be happy to know him."

Phoenix recognized the glint in Pearl's eye and backpedaled as quickly as he could. "Wait, Pearl! It's not-"

Too late.

"How could you, Mr. Nick?" Pearl shouted, slapping Phoenix so hard that he tumbled the rest of the way to the ground. "Going behind Mystic Maya's back like that, and even bringing another woman to Kurain instead of her! You're despicable!"

"Mr. Wright!" Lynne gasped.

"M…Maya's training the acolytes…" Phoenix managed, his voice muffled by his face-down position in the dirt.

"O-oh!" Pearl gasped. "So then… you're not being unfaithful?"

"Unfaithful?" Lynne parroted.

"Mystic Maya is Mr. Nick's _special someone!_" Pearl declared, puffing herself up as big as she could, before swinging her arm at Lynne in an Objection-point that would have made Mia proud. "I won't let you steal him away from her!"

"Oh!" Lynne gasped again, her face turning the color of her hair. "I had no idea that Mr. Wright and Maya-"

"_Mystic _Maya."

"…Mystic Maya were like that." Lynne finished, sneaking an astonished glance at Phoenix.

"We're not…" The lawyer muttered, still on the ground.

"Well don't worry." Lynne said, kneeling down to Pearl's level. "I think Mr. Wright is a very nice man, but I would never dream of stealing him away from his _special someone."_

_(Oh God, there's two of them…)_

"Promise?" Pearl asked, suddenly getting a lot shyer.

"Promise!" Lynne replied, performing a _really_ cheesy pinkie-swear with the younger girl, that seemed to reassure her.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Nick." Pearl said, helping Phoenix back up as best as she could. "But I hope this was a good lesson for you."

"Absolutely." Phoenix groaned, rubbing his face. One of these days, he and Maya really needed to have a talk with her. "Anyways, we were all heading to the Fey Manor to get something to eat. Would you like to-?"

Phoenix's question was interrupted by a sudden intake of breath from the smaller girl. "What a cute little kitty-cat!" Pearl squealed. "Is he yours, ma'am?"

"Ma'am?" Lynne asked, almost looking offended for a second. "You don't need to call me that. It makes me feel kinda old, actually…"

"But aren't you a grown-up?"

"Yes, but you can never be too young at heart!" Lynne declared happily. "Feel free to just call me Lynne."

"Okay, Ms. Lynne!" Pearl composed herself for a second. "My name is Pearl Fey. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Wow, so polite and mature!" Lynne observed, clearly impressed by Pearl's sudden change and seemingly having already forgotten her comment about being young at heart. Phoenix on the other hand, could tell by Pearl's subtle fidgeting that all she really wanted to do was play with the cat. Phoenix decided to lend a hand.

"This is Sissel." Phoenix explained to the young medium. "He's very smart; I'm sure Lynne wouldn't mind if you said hello."

"Of course not!" Lynne said happily. "Go nuts!"

"Really?" Pearl practically screamed. Had Pearl gotten this excited when she met Shoe? Then again, Sissel _was _a kitten, and even Phoenix found that little red bandana of his a little cute.

But there was one person whose opinion they hadn't taken into account. Someone who had been even quieter than usual.

"_It… it can't be." _Sissel said quietly, backing away from the medium as she approached him. _"_You_!"_

"Sissel?" Phoenix asked.

"What's wrong?" Lynne added.

Sissel said nothing else, but, try as the others might, he absolutely refused to get within arm's reach of Pearl.

"I'm so sorry." Lynne apologized. "He's not usually like this."

Phoenix normally might have made - or at least thought - a comment about how Lynne seemed to be treated Sissel much more like a pet than maybe she should have, but he was too confused by Sissel's reaction. _(What could cause him to be so frightened of Pearls?)_

Pearl looked perplexed as well, before her face settled into a more neutral expression. Phoenix was almost positive she was trying to avoid letting her disappointment show through. "It's okay. I don't want to bother him if he'd rather be left alone."

"Well… as I was saying," Phoenix began, trying to diffuse the situation. "Maya just said we could go get something to eat at the Fey Manor. Do you want to come with us?"

"Yes please!" Pearl replied, smiling again.

* * *

Despite the colorful group of characters, dinner passed uneventfully. Surprising no one, Maya had a stash of pre-cooked hamburgers just waiting to be microwaved. It seemed Lynna was a little disappointed by the lack traditional Kurain cuisine, but Phoenix didn't really mind. Ever since he'd had the misfortune of trying Morgan Fey's infamously bitter tea, he hadn't really had much desire to try any other Kurain dishes. Luckily, Maya had a rather large supply of junk food available whenever he visited, which wasn't even that often since she spent the majority of her time in the city.

But now it was getting dark. Phoenix checked the clock on his phone. 8:00. The last train to LA would be pass through in thirty minutes. Maya was cutting this pretty close….

As if on cue, Maya trudged into the manor, looking completely exhausted. "Man, training those acolytes can take a lot out of you! Pass me one of those burgers, I'm starving…"

"Good timing." Phoenix said, handing her one of the spares they'd pre-heated. "The last train's set to depart in about a half an hour."

"Oh? It's only 7:00?" Maya asked, her mouth already full of hamburger. "It looks darker than that, though."

"It's 8:00, Maya." Phoenix said, already feeling exasperated by the girl. He paused, suddenly getting a nervous feeling in his gut. "The last train _is _at 8:30, right?"

Maya shook her head. "Nah, they changed the schedule recently. Now the last one comes at 7:30…" Her eyes widened. "Oh no."

No one said anything for about a minute as the implication sunk in.

"We missed it, didn't we?" Lynne finally asked, although she clearly already knew the answer

"Looks like it." Phoenix muttered, his hand on his forehead.

"So… what now?"

"I guess everyone should just stay the night." Maya shrugged. "The manor's got some extra bedrooms, so Nick and Lynne can each take one of those. Nick and I will have to get up early to make it to the trial tomorrow, but you're welcome to stay as long as you like, Lynne."

"Okay then!" Lynne said, smiling. "As long as that's okay with all of you."

"I don't think we really have any other option." Phoenix concluded with a sigh. Well, he'd stayed at Kurain a couple of times in the past, so he wasn't too worried about himself, although he was annoyed at the prospect of having to wake up early enough to catch the train. Hopefully this didn't inconvenience Lynne and Sissel too much.

With that, Maya took Lynne and Sissel (who had been silently staring at Pearl for most of the meal) to show them where they would be staying, and Phoenix headed off towards his own room. This was inconvenient, but other than that, this wouldn't be too bad.

* * *

It was night, and, unlike the bustling city, Kurain Village had not a single villager on the streets. However, that is not to say that the place was deserted. In the middle of the road stood two men in almost identical dark suits and fedoras. If anyone had been around to see them, they would likely have called the police on the suspicious individuals.

"So this is Kurain Village." One-Step-Ahead Tengo observed, casting his gaze about. "Looks pretty shabby."

"Hey, I was about to say that!" Nearsighted Jeego muttered. "And I-"

"You can't even see anything, can you?" By now, it was long past midnight, and Kurain village had very few lights on to speak of. Even Tengo was having some trouble seeing in this darkness. He could only imagine how difficult it would be for Jeego.

"I was about to say _that _too." Jeego muttered, obviously annoyed, not that Tengo cared in the least. "And what's with the boss pairing us up like this all of a sudden?" He continued. "The last thing I want to do is share all these jobs with _anyone_, let alone you."

"I don't know." Tengo replied.

"I thought you were always supposed to be one step ahead of everyone." Jeego said with a smirk.

"Only when I consider it important enough. That's why I've taken the liberty of asking Commander Sith for a pay increase upon the successful completion of this mission."

"Wha-? You did that before we even completed the mission?"

"I've also taken the liberty of blaming any potential failures on your nearsightedness."

Jeego grimaced. "There won't be any failures."

"For your sake, I hope not. Now, we've wasted enough time. Let's get to work."

"Hey! I was about to-"

"You were about to say that, yes, I know. Let's just get started."

The two suited men quickly set about performing their task. They had a very important mission to complete, and precious little time to do it.

* * *

_What a tweest!_

_No, seriously, I'm glad I finally got this chapter over with. I'm still not entirely happy with it, but I got a _lot _of scenes out of the way that I needed to finish before the full plot can really kick in. If all goes according to plan, the next chapter should be soon, and things will start to pick up!_

_On an entirely unrelated note, in the process of writing this, I came to the conclusion that Lynne and Pearl are my new favorite duo. They should team up and fight crime! Oh wait, I guess they already do that...  
_


	4. Sissel and Pearl

"_Just who _are _you?"_

Pearl sat up in her futon and rubbed her eyes. "Who said that?" She asked sleepily. There didn't seem to be anyone in her room… had she imagined it?

"_Hold on. Can you… hear me?"_

Pearl let out a squeak in surprise. There were two large yellow eyes staring right at her. _(A monster!) _She caught herself. Mystic Maya had promised that no monsters could get into her room! Besides, monsters weren't supposed to be real…

As her eyes acclimated to the darkness, Pearl began to notice a faint outline around the yellow eyes. The creature must have been dark-colored which made it hard for her to make it out at first, but it looked like a cat. "S-Sissel? Is that you?"

"…_Yes." _The voice was faint, but it was clearly coming from the cat.

"But… but kitties aren't supposed to talk!" She _thought _she'd heard him say something when Lynne first showed him to her, but that should be impossible! If kitties could talk, then that might mean monsters were real too…

Maybe she should turn on the light.

"_I'm not your average cat." _Sissel replied before she could do anything. Pearl had to strain a bit, but she was able to catch enough of his words to fill in the blanks. _"And from the looks of things, you're not your average girl. That core in your head is more solid looking than Maya's, but it's still not complete."_

"Core?" What was Sissel talking about?

"_I have a question that might seem kind of odd to you."_

"Okay…"

"_Have you ever… died?"_

Pearl bit her thumb in thought. Had she? She couldn't ever remember dying before. Plus, she wasn't being channeled or anything, so it seemed unlikely that she'd still be in the world of the living. "No, I don't think so."

"_I expected as much." _The cat replied. _"I guess it must have something to do with your channelling ability."_

"Channelling ability?" Pearl bit her thumb again. Sissel wasn't making any sense. How could her ability to channel spirits have anything to do with being able to suddenly talk to animals? Or was it just him?

"_But enough about that." _Sissel continued. _"I want answers. I saw you inside Phoenix Wright's Magatama. Why?"_

Pearl blinked. "I… I don't understand." What was Sissel talking about? He was a small kitty, but there was no _way_ he could fit inside Mr. Nick's Magatama!

The cat twitched his whiskers in annoyance. _"Here, let me start over. I'm not an ordinary cat because I have powers of the-"_

Suddenly, there was a loud noise outside, followed by some muffled words that Pearl's mother had forbidden her from saying. But that wasn't the worrisome thing. With the thin walls of the manor, she was able to hear the voice pretty clearly, and she was certain it belonged to a man she didn't recognize.

"_Who was that?" _Sissel asked, suddenly sounding worried. _"Do you know?"_

Pearl shook her head. "It didn't sound like anyone from the village."

"_I was afraid of that." _Sissel replied. _"I'm going to go check this out. It's probably nothing, but I need to know for sure." _He bounded for the exit. _"I'll be right back!"_

* * *

Sissel still didn't completely trust Pearl (it was pretty hard after being effectively tortured by her), but he'd also had plenty of experience with people stealing the faces of others. Just because that young girl he saw in the Magatama looked like Pearl Fey didn't necessarily mean they were the same person. Either way, there were more pressing matters to look into. _(That voice from the street… It sounded just like…)_

"Watch where you're going! And don't say 'They don't call me Nearsighted Jeego for nothing.' Someone might have heard you." A man in black whispered. A man that Sissel recognized.

One-Step-Ahead Tengo.

"Sorry." His partner, another man in black, this one scooping a couple tools and a bunch of metallic disks off of the ground and into a bag, muttered in frustration. "But really, who puts rocks in the road where people can trip on them like that?"

Nearsighted Jeego.

Why were _they _here? It didn't make any sense! Sure, Sissel had effectively averted their fates as well when he prevented Yomiel's 'death,' but that should have also meant that they wouldn't have known about the powers granted by the Temsik Meteorite. And if that was the case, just what could they possibly be doing in Kurain?

He was more worried, however, by the silver rifle in Tengo's hand and the golden shotgun that Jeego had in his stack of instruments. Were they after someone? Had they already killed someone?

Being so small, Sissel was able to get pretty close. He supposed that was one plus of not being human. He could always abandon his body if need be, but considering what those foreigners did to Yomiel, he'd rather avoid such risks.

"Hurry it up." Tengo muttered. "We've only got a few more hours left of night."

"Well maybe if you would help carry some of this stuff." Jeego growled back, having finally succeeded at gathering up all of the tools that had spilled to the ground.

Tengo shrugged. "Not my fault. I said I'd do the work for our last job if you did the work for the next one. Plus," He reached his hand into his pocket, producing a stone slightly larger than his palm. "I'm carrying _this_." Sissel's eyes widened. Even from here, it looked like it was shaped like on of the Fey Clan's Magatamas. A quick look in the ghost world confirmed that it was giving off the same radiation as the Kurain Boulder. But there was something different about this one from Mr. Wright's. For one thing, it was larger, but secondly, it was a lot less perfected, being rough and clearly just carved out of stone rather than some sort of gem. How in the world Jeego and Tengo get their hands on a Magatama?

"Yeah, but that last one was so much easier than this!" Jeego replied.

"Huh. What do you know? You're right. I guess I just have really good luck. After all, there was no _way _I could have known that beforehand, right?"

"Just shut up."

"Hey, _you_ asked."

"…"

"Well, this is it."

The two men stopped. Sissel did too. _(This _can't _be good.) _They were standing right in front of the Kurain Boulder.

"And just how do you know for sure?" Jeego grumbled. "This doesn't look that much like a boulder to me. We're not looking for the 'Kurain Rectangle.'"

Sissel cocked his head to the side. _(I guess strange minds think alike.) _That was a saying, right? But more importantly, it looked like they _were _after the Kurain Boulder.

"I read the sign." Tengo said, gesturing at the placard with his rifle. "Now come on. Let's get some confirmation."

"Yeah, yeah." Jeego said, waving a sensor quite similar to one Sissel had once seen that pigeon man using in front of the Kurain Boulder. It beeped, and he squinted a bit in order to read the display. "Hmm…"

"Let me guess. It's giving off the same radiation as this thing here." Tengo asked, holding up the stone Magatama.

"That's right." Jeego didn't sound too happy.

"I thought so. Now, get this stuff rigged up."

Sissel had seen enough. Whatever these two were up to, it clearly wasn't anything good. _(Couldn't even make better life decisions in a new timeline, huh?) _Time to get to work. Unfortunately, there weren't too many cores near the boulder itself, but Jeego and Tengo had luckily brought a plethora of different items that Sissel could make use of. There was just one problem:

He had no idea what most of this stuff even _was_.

Then again, maybe he didn't need to. Leaving his body in a shrub nearby, Sissel quickly made his way to Jeego's shotgun. The man was busy attaching up some strange beeping disks to boulder, meaning that he had just left the weapon laying there on the ground. _"Let's see here…" _Sissel thought aloud. If he could make a loud enough noise, maybe he could make some of the villagers to wake up and take notice of the strange going-ons. _"I just pull the trigger and…"_

**BANG!**

"H-huh?" Jeego started, dropping one of the disks, which rolled over to Sissel. Considering such an occurrence was not likely to repeat itself anytime soon, the spirit jumped to it.

"Be quiet, you idiot." Tengo growled, striding briskly to the still-smoking shotgun and picking it up with his free hand before laying it up against the wooden shed with its muzzle pointed away from them. "What a shoddy weapon, going off like that. If that woke anyone up…" He turned to Jeego. "Hurry up."

"It would go faster if you gave me a hand." Jeego replied as he angrily picked up the final disk - the one containing Sissel - and forcefully slammed it onto the boulder. To the cat's surprise, immediately after he did so, a set of pick-like anchors shot from the disk and embedded itself into the stone itself as web of metal wires shot from his disk and the others before wrapping themselves tightly around the boulder.

"Don't think I'm not going to tell the boss about this." Tengo said with a smirk. "I doubt Commander Sith will appreciate your carelessness."

"Now look here." Jeego replied, storming towards his partner. "I'm getting sick and tired of that smug attitude of yours."

"It comes from always being one step ahead of everyone else." Tengo replied with a wry grin. "I'd recommend trying it if you weren't so likely to trip over your own feet."

"That's it!" Jeego grabbed his shotgun. "If you keep acting all high and mighty, I'm gonna lose it!" As if to emphasize his point, he kicked one of the other devices he had been carrying, which flew into the shrub where Sissel had hidden his body. A frightened squeak came from the bush. Clearly there was something else in there.

"Did you hear that?"

Tengo reached into the plant and pulled out a small girl, who was fearfully clutching Sissel's shell in her arms.

_(Oh no.)_

"Well looky what we have here." Jeego said, approaching Pearl Fey. "What are you doing out so late on your own, girly?"

"I… I was following this kitty." Pearl said quietly, clutching Sissel's body ever tighter. "And… and now he won't wake up!"

"Well then, little one. You'd better run along now." Tengo said smoothly, but with a faint hint of menace. "My friend and I were just passing through. You'd better just go back to bed. No reason to disturb your parents."

Sissel tried to make his way back to his shell, to the girl, but the only thing within his reach were the wires around the Kurain Boulder itself. _(Go, Pearl. Just go…)_

Pearl gulped. "N-no! You two are bad men! What are you doing to the Kurain Boulder?"

Tengo sighed dramatically. "It's unfortunate you had to say that. Too bad. I'm not a huge fan of snuffing out kids. You want to do it, Jeego? I _did _get the kill for our last job, after all."

_(No…) _Even though Sissel had the ability to bring people back to life, he could never erase the scar on their psyche. Adults usually could deal with the trauma, but children were often a different story. There was a reason he had been so desperate to save Lynne fifteen years ago.

Jeego grunted. "Yeah, whatever." He leveled his golden shotgun right in Pearl's face. "Nothing personal, little lady. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

_(NO!)_

Sissel froze time by entering the ghost world and cast his sight around for a core, _any _core to possess. In the end, he jumped to the only thing he could: The wire mesh around the boulder. Luckily, there was a little metal… thing (Sissel wasn't sure what it was called) at every point the wires intersected, which gave him a wide range of motion around the Kurain Boulder itself. Even if he was unable to jump to anything around it, at least it was a start.

_(What now?) _Sissel wondered. He had very little time to figure out a way to save Pearl, and he seemed unable to find a way out of the giant metal net.

…

_(Hold on…) _A plan was forming in Sissel's mind. The net seemed to be stretched tightly enough to make it work… It would be a gamble, but it wasn't like Sissel had many other options.

Acting quickly, Sissel jumped across the mesh to one of the anchor discs on the side of the boulder facing away from the assassins. Returning to the world of the living for less than a second, he deactivated the locking mechanisms. Sissel quickly repeated the process, save for a couple of the ones near Tengo and Jeego, and one of the anchors on the opposite side. The net was now taut, with only one of the tiny discs preventing the whole thing from flipping over. He heard Jeego cock his shotgun. No time left. _(Here we go…)_

Sissel released the final clamp on the opposite side. The net then shot over the top of the Kurain Boulder, before landing on top of the two assassins. The wires were rather thick, so the force of the impact caught them off guard and caused the two to drop their weapons. Wasting no time, Sissel immediately jumped to the discs no longer connected to the boulder and reactivated the anchor mechanisms, locking them into the ground. Jeego and Tengo wouldn't be able to get out of that. Either way, they seemed too stunned at the moment to try. They might even be unconscious.

Another fate averted before it could even happen.

From his new position, Sissel was able to jump to the shotgun laying on the ground, before finally settling into his own body. _"Ah, that's better."_

"S-Sissel!" Pearl gasped. "You're okay!"

"_Yeah, sorry about that. I had to deal with those two assassins over there."_

"Assassins?" Pearls' eyes opened wide. "S-So they were going to kidnap me? Or were they going to-?"

"_Uh… something like that." _Sissel interrupted hastily.

"And… and _you _did that with that net?"

"_Yes."_

"T-thank you…" Pearl said, her lower lip trembling. "Thank you so much!" She said again, this time bursting into tears and clutching Sissel tightly. It was a good thing he couldn't feel anything, or it might have hurt.

"_It's alright. You're safe now." _Sissel assured her, wriggling out of her grasp and jumping to the ground. _"We should go tell Lynne and the others about this."_

Pearl nodded a bit, and Sissel started to lead the way, before she said in a trembling voice, "C-could I carry you?"

Sissel turned back to Pearl. She was shaking and her eyes were still quite wet. Understandable, Sissel realized. She'd just had a shotgun aimed right at her, after all. He was now certain that whatever he had seen inside the Magatama was not this girl. The thing he had seen was cold and cruel… but she was just an innocent child. He couldn't help but draw parallels to the time Kamila was possessed. At moments like these, Sissel really wished he had a human body so he could comfort Pearl properly, like how Lynne did for Kamila that time, or how Detective Jowd was able to make the younger Lynne feel safe in the park all those years ago. Oh well. He'd just have to do what he could. _"Okay."_

"Thank you." Pearl sniffled, scooping the cat up and holding him tight the whole way back to Fey Manor.

* * *

"_What?" _Lynne practically shouted. "Jeego and Tengo are _back_?" She paused. "Wait, who are they again?"

Sissel gaped at her, which he assumed looked pretty funny considering his species. "You're kidding right? They _both_ killed you in the past!"

"You'll need to be a little more specific than that."

"In the junkyard? And then in the Superintendent's office?"

Lynne put a hand to her chin in thought. "I can't really remember either of those that clearly. Didn't you say my soul was still unconscious when you saved me those times? It makes sense I wouldn't be able to remember them."

Sissel groaned. He guessed that did make sense, but they had been so _memorable _to him…

Regardless, they woke Phoenix and Maya, and it wasn't long before the police arrived to arrest the two captured assassins. They seemed perplexed by how the men supposedly netted themselves, but the didn't seem able to find another explanation. Meanwhile, after comforting Pearl, Phoenix left the girl in Maya's care while he went to speak with Lynne and Sissel.

"So… Pearls says _you _saved her." Phoenix said to Sissel as he approached them. "Does that mean she…"

"Oh, no!" Sissel assured him hastily. "No, no, no. I was able to capture the two before anything happened to her."

Phoenix looked confused. "But then how did she know that you were the one to do it?"

"I'm not sure." The cat admitted. "But it looks like spirit mediums have partial cores that let them hear me."

Lynne crossed her arms. "But then shouldn't Maya-?"

"Hers is fainter than Pearl's." He explained. "I'm probably just too quiet for her to hear. Even Pearl seemed to have some trouble at times."

"That would make sense." Phoenix said, his hand on his chin. "Pearls' spiritual power has always been stronger than Maya's."

Lynne and Sissel looked at each other. "But isn't Maya the Master?" The detective asked. "Shouldn't the Master be the most skilled of the mediums?"

"I'd rather not get into it." Phoenix said, suddenly seeming very weary, and _not _just because it was extremely early morning. "It's… complicated."

"Alright then." Lynne allowed, changing the subject. "But just what were Jeego and Tengo doing here anyway?"

"They seemed to want the Kurain Boulder for something." Sissel explained. "But also, Tengo had a Magatama like yours, Mr. Wright."

Lynne scratched her head. "Maga-what?"

"Magatama." Phoenix said, pulling the gem out of his pocket. "You mean it looked like this? Did it glow?"

"Well, no." Sissel admitted. "But it was giving off radiation like yours, and I haven't seen any of the other Fey Magatamas doing that."

"That's odd." Phoenix said, scratching his chin. "I didn't think there _were _other Magatamas like mine. Then again, Iris had those Psyche-Lock looking trick locks, so they must have known about them…"

"Hmm?"

"Oh, never mind." The lawyer replied. "It's not important. I was just thinking out loud."

Silence.

"So what now?" Lynne asked, yawning.

"You guys may as well go back to sleep." Phoenix shrugged, before looking at the clock on his phone. "The train will be here soon, so it would be pointless for Maya and I to do the same. I'd better go talk to her and see how Pearls is doing."

Lynne rolled her eyes. "Psh, this is nothing. I'm a detective! You should have seen the night I met Sissel. I was running around all night! I didn't have time to get even a wink of sleep and I was fine!"

"_Yeah, except that night never happened anymore." _Sissel muttered.

"Well, you can do what you want." Phoenix said with another shrug, clearly not as chipper as Lynne.

* * *

In the end, Lynne did decide to take a quick cat-nap (she assured Sissel that no pun had been intended) before investigating what the foreigners might be up to. Pearl, deciding not to go with Phoenix and Maya into the city, but still shaken up, stayed with Lynne in her room. Of course, that meant that Sissel was left to ponder the situation on his own. Ever since he was struck by the Temsik Meteorite, not only had Sissel lost his ability to feel, but also his ability to sleep as well. He honestly didn't mind it too much - there was a surprising amount of things a cat could get up to while the rest of the world slept - but he could understand how it had driven Yomiel to such desperation. For now, he was keeping his mind occupied with all that had happened recently.

There was another rock producing strange radiation… there were people who had cores but never died… and now Commander Sith - that was that eyebrowed villain, right? - was up to no good again. Sissel hadn't encountered such a perplexing mystery since _that_ night. The one that had long since fallen through the cracks in time…

In a way, it was strangely exhilarating. Now that he was secure in his own identity - and there was no cosmic deadline looming over his head - Sissel was actually excited to be doing something more than just visiting crime scenes and averting deaths, as he'd been doing recently.

Then again, he needed to be careful with such thoughts. It was clear that Command Sith and the rest of the foreigners had not changed much after Sissel changed the past, which meant any plan of theirs could potentially put countless people in harm's way. Even though he didn't have to worry about disappearing at sunrise, Sissel couldn't waste time. He needed to figure out what the foreigners were up to and stop them.

The first order of business would be to figure out just what they wanted with the Kurain Boulder. That net that had surrounded it looked like it might have been used to transport it, but just how would they do that? There was no way two men could even _hope_ to lift such gigantic rock. Did they have a truck or something? Sissel's whiskers twitched. He sometimes got confused about what constituted a 'truck,' but he wasn't even sure one of those could transport the Kurain Boulder.

Next, was that Magatama of theirs. How did they get their hands an authentic one when it looked like the only other one with spiritual properties belonged to Mr. Wright? Shouldn't the Feys have some? Then again, they _did _have the Boulder itself. Hopefully Pearl could provide Sissel with some answers. He glanced at the sleeping girl. The core in her head seemed to pulsing as she breathed softly.

_(That's odd.) _Sissel thought, padding over to Pearl. He wasn't able to interact with Maya's core, but hers had been a lot fainter. What would happen if he tried to possess _this _one? Sissel lay down next to the girl's head and reached out with his soul. He had been wondering…

"…!"

Sissel blinked in surprise before struggling to stand underneath a large weight of extra hair on his head. _(What the?) _More strange, however, was the realization that he wasn't just aware of the hair (light brown hair, from the looks of the locks that kept falling in his face) on his head, but he was actually feeling it. Sissel could _feel. _More than that, he had a physical body. But that made no sense! His real body was right over there… And where had Pearl gone?

Kurain Channelling Technique. _(Of course.) _Sissel realized. He didn't realize it, but he had just performed a Ghost Trick on a living thing. Not just any living thing either; a _spirit medium._ Sissel quickly jumped back to his shell and spotted Pearl once again laying underneath the blanket on that strange mat on the floor. Oddly, the core in her head was completely solid now. Sissel wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he assumed she'd be able to hear him more clearly the next time he spoke to her.

* * *

"I herby find the defendant, Barley Waheet, not guilty." The Judge declared, banging his gavel. "Court is adjourned."

Phoenix gave sigh of relief. As expected, the trial had been relatively simple - it wasn't even noon yet - but he had been worried that Chris Saant might have been able to get his story straight now that he'd had prior warning. Of course, the chef wasn't the brightest of murderers, _and_ had already pulled a gun on Phoenix, so there hadn't been a problem. For _once_, the trial day had been completely straightforward. _(Good thing, too.) _He thought, spotting Saant getting led away in cuffs. He should probably return to Kurain and see how Pearls was doing. From the sound of things, her experience had been pretty terrifying. That said, at least she wouldn't have to live with the memory of dying. Phoenix shuddered a bit. He was no longer having flashbacks, but he wasn't sure if he'd ever _completely _recover.

Either way, after his client thanked him and left, Phoenix was about to make his own way to the exit, when he was greeted by a large scruffy man practically kicking down the doors to the Defendant Lobby.

"_There_ you are!" Detective Gumshoe growled. "Where the heck've you been, pal?" The 'pal' was not friendly.

Phoenix shot Gumshoe a look. "Uh, in trial, remember?" Actually, this had been one of the few times Gumshoe _hadn't _testified. Then again, the case was honestly pretty open and shut.

"Well I knew _that_." The detective said, rolling his eyes. "I meant before. I've been calling your office all morning, pal!"

"Oh, that's my fault." Maya admitted, actually looking a little sheepish. Despite being a goof most of the time, when he got angry, Gumshoe was _scary_. Phoenix had once seen the man take down four mafia enforcers all on his own. "I messed up with the train schedule, so Nick had to stay the night at Kurain."

"That's not important!" Gumshoe insisted. "Listen, pal. I've got a client for you."

"Well, actually…" Phoenix began.

"Uh-uh. Nope!" Gumshoe said, shaking his head furiously. "I'm not taking no for an answer. If you refuse, I might just arrest you!"

_(I'm sure the chief of police would love that.)_ Phoenix thought, but in the end he relented. He'd only seen Gumshoe this worked up about two of his clients in the past, and if _either_ of them was the one Gumshoe was talking about, there was no way he'd refuse to defend them. Unfortunately, Pearls was going to have to wait a little longer. Maya could probably give her a call on the way.

"Great!" Gumshoe said, suddenly all jovial now that Phoenix had agreed to help. "I'll give you two a ride to the station, so shake a leg!"

* * *

_Ugh... sorry about the delay, that scene with Sissel and his Ghost Tricks was a **bitch** to write. I'm still not entirely happy with it, and there was another scene I wanted to include in here, but I decided I've kept you guys waiting long enough._


	5. Trench Coats and Plastic Badges

Detective Jowd scratched his knee. Ten years previously, it had been struck by the fragment of the Temsik meteorite that went on to impale Sissel the kitten. Although the doctors assured him that it was merely a flesh wound and that he would regain the full use of the knee, Jowd still occasionally felt some stiffness in the limb, and it would sometimes itch before a dangerous situation, almost as a premonition.

And it was itching now.

"_Detective Jowd!" _Came a voice from his desk phone. After ten years on the force - rather than in prison - Jowd had risen to quite the high rank as far as detectives went. Of course, that meant much less field work and much more of a desk job. It was a bit irritating that he had skipped over his best years on the force due to Sissel's time travel, but he had long since regained his memories of them. Besides, it was much better than the alternative…

"Sissel?" Jowd asked, picking up the receiver and speaking into it. He, of course, didn't need to do this in order to converse with Sissel, but it made him look a lot less conspicuous while talking to someone who apparently wasn't there. The dial tone in his ear was a bit annoying, but it was preferable to appearing crazy. "What's going on?"

Sissel didn't beat around the bush. _"Those odd foreigners are back."_

Jowd was glad he hadn't been drinking the morning coffee on his desk, as he surely would have performed a spit take at that moment. "Where are you? Is Lynne alright?"

"Lynne's fine." Sissel assured him. "The LAPD just arrested Jeego and Tengo a few hours ago here in Kurain."

Once again, Jowd was happy he wasn't drinking any coffee. "They were in Kurain Village? What could they possibly want _there_?"

"_It seems that even changing the past isn't going to change their fixation on the powers of the dead."_

"So does that mean you two _were _able to get some answers at Kurain?"

"_Not as much as we would have liked." _Sissel admitted. _"But we do know now that there are more stones that give people spiritual powers aside from Temsik. Unfortunately, it looks like Commander Sith and his people do too."_

Jowd grimaced. From all he'd heard, he was almost certain that they wouldn't be getting up to such no good without Yomiel telling them about Ghost Tricks. Looking back, that was a pretty foolish thing to think.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Jowd declared.

"_But don't you have cases here?"_

"Idiot!" Jowd slammed his desk with his fist, prompting looks from nearby officers. He lowered his voice, but kept the intensity. "You and I both know how dangerous these people are. I'm not going to let you and Lynne face them alone."

Sissel was silent for a moment.

"Do you understand me?"

"_Understood, Detective Jowd." _Sissel said. If he wasn't a ghost… and a cat… Jowd would have thought he heard Sissel smiling. _"Well then, I'd better get back."_

"Take care of her."

"_I will."_

"Take care of yourself too."

"…"

"Sissel?"

"_I will."_

Jowd smiled boisterously. "Good man! Er… cat. You know what I mean. I'll be there soon. You two just be careful until I get there."

"_Got it!" _Sissel said, and then he was gone again.

Well, it looked Jowd was right. The knee doesn't lie.

* * *

A quick car ride later (with _quick _being the key word; Gumshoe really needed to break the habit of speeding whenever he got overly excited about something) and Phoenix and Maya were at the Detention Center. Gumshoe apparently had something he had to take care of at the Police Station, so the two of them made their way into the visitors' room without him. And there was their potential client, sitting behind the pane of glass, eyes averted and elbow being squeezed tightly by one hand. Phoenix and Maya shot each other a look.

_(Why am I not surprised?)_

"M-Mr. Wright!" Maggey Byrde shouted, habitually throwing up her right arm in a salute. "It's good to see you again, sir!"

"Maggey… what happened?" Phoenix asked, finding himself unable to engage in small talk at this point. Just how many times was this young woman going to show up in the Detention Center?

"I… I'm set to go on trial, for murder… again." She said, looking away sadly. "It looks like I'm never going to escape from this bad luck of mine… I hate to ask, but I was wondering if you would be willing to defend me?"

Phoenix sighed, sitting down in the chair across from Maggey. "Of course I will. When is the trial?"

"Tomorrow…"

"T-tomorrow?" Phoenix wasn't sure what was more depressing. The fact that he had less than a day to prepare, or the fact that he was used to it by now. "Alright." He tried to smile.

"Hey… just out of curiosity," Maya piped up. "How many times _have_ you been accused of murder now? Three?"

"Four, actually." Maggey admitted.

_Four_? Phoenix was at a loss for words. He was beginning to think she actually _was_ cursed by some goddess of misfortune or something. He eyed the officer-turned-waitress pityingly, only to realize she seemed to be dressed in a completely different uniform than he was used to. She was dressed relatively normally (by her standards anyway), wearing jeans and a Blue Badger'ed t-shirt, but over that she had a bright red jacket, as well as a baseball cap of the same shade.

Maya must have noticed the same (then again, it was kind of hard to miss) and asked. "What's with the outfit, Maggey?"

"Oh, this?" Maggey asked, looking at herself. "It's my uniform."

"I thought you were a waitress." Phoenix pointed out.

Maggey slumped her shoulders. "Not anymore. With Mr. Armstrong gone, Tres Bien got some new management, who fired me pretty quickly. I was able to get a job as a security guard at the Prosecutors Office for a little while, but I lost that too." Her shoulders slumped even farther. "Now I'm a delivery girl for Mario's Pizza Castle."

"I'm… uh… sorry to hear that." Phoenix said, trying to sound sympathetic. In all honesty, he wasn't surprised in the least.

The officer-turned-waitress-turned-security-guard_-turned-delivery girl_ gave a weak smile. "Oh, it's not all bad. I get to drive around a lot more now, so it's kind of like going on a little adventure each time."

"Plus, your new uniform is a good twenty percent cooler than your last one!" Maya said with a smile. Phoenix raised an eyebrow. The waitress outfits weren't exactly subtle, but they still looked more natural than that inexplicably bright coat.

Maggey nodded. "I thought so too! It kind of looks like the Copper Samurai's trench coat, doesn't it?"

Phoenix resisted the urge to groan. _Maggey _was into those shows now too? Nowadays, it was looking like everyone was watching some samurai program or another. One of these days he'd have to meet up with Edgeworth and talk about it. After all, Phoenix was certain the man wouldn't appreciate a low quality children's show getting so popular while 'high art' is dying. Or something like that. "Look, why don't you just tell me what happened?" He said, desperate to change the subject.

Maggey saluted. "Yes sir, Mr. Wright!" She paused a moment to collect her thoughts before beginning, "It was just an ordinary night on the job for me. The victim had just ordered a pizza, and so I went to his apartment to deliver it."

Maya's eyes widened. "Oh, and let me guess! He was dead when you got there!"

Maggey shook her head. "I almost wish that were what happened." Then, her expression suddenly changed to a much more guilty one. "Oh no! How could I think something so horrible?"

"It's okay, Maggey." Phoenix said, consoling her as best as he could given the situation. "If we can prove you left while he was still alive, that could very well get you acquitted."

Instead of cheering up, however, Maggey's expression just became more downcast. "But I didn't leave while he was still alive."

Phoenix felt a pit in his stomach. "What?"

Maggey smiled meekly. "Well, it was the last delivery of my shift, and he invited me inside…"

"But isn't that sort of dangerous?" Maya asked incredulously. Phoenix was inclined to agree. When _Maya's _questioning your judgement, you know you've done something stupid. "I mean, who knows what kind of weirdo that person might have been?"

"Oh, no!" Maggey said, shaking her hands. "I would never had done something like that if I hadn't already known him!"

Phoenix felt the pit get deeper. "You… already knew him?" This couldn't be good.

Maggey nodded. "Yep! He was my supervisor when I was on the police force!" She paused. "In fact, he's the one who fired me…"

"What." And there it was. The pit turned into a gaping maw.

"B-but he was a really nice guy!" Maggey continued. "I don't hold it against him at all!"

_(Somehow, I think you'll have a hard time convincing the judge of that…) _That's universe had to be getting Phoenix back for his last case being so simple. "…What happened after that?" He asked, dreading what she might say.

Maggey put her hand to her chin. "Well, I went in, and we just talked for a while. It was really nice seeing him again, actually. It was good we got to talk before… before… well, you know. I'd always been afraid that he thought I blamed him for my getting fired…"

"Well, then it's a good thing you got to tell him that before he died." Maya said, trying to cheer the delivery girl up.

"Yeah, I guess." Maggey said, her expression still quite dejected. "I just don't understand why someone would want to kill Detective Spade!"

"He _was_ a cop." Phoenix pointed out.

"But everyone loved him!" Maggey insisted. "Besides, he was retired!"

"Maggey."

The girl got meek. "Oh, who am I kidding? You're right. He was on the force, so there's bound to be people who held a grudge against him."

"How did he die?" Phoenix asked. It was clear that this death was weighing heavily on Maggey's mind - only slightly less than Dustin Prince's had - but he needed as much information as possible.

"He was shot."

"And did you see it happen?"

"Well… no."

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. That was curious. "But I thought you said you didn't leave the apartment while he was still alive."

Maggey was starting to look nervous all of a sudden. "I… I didn't."

"Then did you hear the gunshot? Or see the killer?" Phoenix pressed.

"…No…"

"But then what were you doing?" The lawyer was getting agitated now. Why was Maggey suddenly clamming up? And how could she have possibly been in the apartment and not heard the gunshot? Curiouser and curiouser…

But then he heard it. Rattling chains.

_(No way…)_

Three locks the same shade as Maggey's jacket appeared in front of her. "I… I was sleeping!" She declared.

"On the job? In _someone else's apartment_?" Phoenix practically shouted.

"_Yes!_" Maggey shot back. "We talked so late that I lost track of time and dozed off a bit!"

Phoenix slid back into the chair. So much for breaking those locks with brute force. Not that he had really expected to be able to. But still… _Maggey Byrde _was lying to him? Just what was going on here?

"Nick?" Maya asked, looking concerned.

"Okay then." Phoenix continued. He was certain he didn't have the evidence yet to break those locks. "So you fell asleep. What happened after you woke up?"

Still looking nervous, Maggey explained, "I woke up when the police arrived. Somebody… somebody on the same floor had heard the gunshot and must have called them." She paused, clearly realizing how phony that made her story. "The apartment was a mess. Detective Spade's things were scattered everywhere… and he was on the floor, dead. The police knocked down the door before I could do anything, and they arrested me."

Phoenix once again felt the need to groan. "That… uh…"

"I know it looks bad, but I swear I didn't do it!" Maggey implored, her eyes brimming with tears. "You have to believe me, Mr. Wright!"

No Psyche-Locks for _that _statement. "I do believe you, Maggey. But still, this makes you look really guilty." One more try… "If you want my help, you're going to need to be completely honest with me. Did you see anythingout of the ordinary? Anything at all?"

Maggey looked uncomfortable again, as the Psyche-Locks reappeared. "…No, I didn't."

Phoenix sighed and got to his feet, before flashing Maggey a friendly smile. "Okay then. Don't you worry, Maggey. I'll defend you."

Maya smiled. "Yeah! Don't you worry! Nick and I are on the case!"

Maggey also jumped to her feet, clasping both her hands together. "Oh, thank you! Thank you! I knew I could count on you two."

"Well, we'd better get investigating." Phoenix said. "Come on, Maya."

* * *

"Well, we'd better get investigating." Lynne declared, pumping her fist. "Come on, Sissel!"

"He already left." Pearl said matter-of-factly from a mat next to the home phone.

"…Huh? Where did he go?"

The young girl shrugged and bit her thumb. "I'm not sure. He said he needed to talk to someone named 'Joe'd' and then he left his body here."

Lynne put her hand to her chin in thought. That was probably for the best. With Commander Sith and his men back, Detective Jowd had a right to know. "I see. Well then!" She shouted, putting her hands on her hips. "I guess it's just you and me for now! Ever investigated before?"

Pearl nodded. "Yes, ma'am!"

Lynne faltered for a second. "Wait, you have?"

"I help Mr. Nick and Mystic Maya with Mr. Nick's cases all the time!" The medium bragged, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

Lynne smiled again. "Glad to hear it! Let's get to work!"

"O-oh," Pearl said, suddenly embarrassed. "But I'm not supposed to leave the village with strangers…"

"That's okay!" Lynne said, still grinning. "We should stay here anyway so Sissel can find his body when he gets back. I was just thinking you could give me some more info on the village and stuff. After all, we need to try to figure out what those two men were after."

Pearl suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Oh… alright." She said quietly, squeezing Sissel's empty shell.

Lynne cocked her head to the side. "Is something wrong?"

"I…I was just thinking about those men who came here…" Pearl said softly. "There are more of them, aren't there?"

Lynne's expression turned serious. "Yes."

"And…" Pearl's voice faltered for a moment, as she continued to clutch the cat. "And they might come here too…?"

The detective nodded gravely. "They might."

"I see." Pearl averted her eyes.

"Are you scared?"

The response was so quiet, it was barely a whisper. "Yes."

Lynne smiled softly, getting down on one knee. "I'm sorry. I hadn't stopped to consider how you must be feeling about all of this. You've been very brave, you know."

The medium looked back up, her eyes wet with unshed tears. "I… have?"

"Yep." The detective's smile grew a little bigger as she reached into the pocket of her trenchcoat. "And, come to think of it, we detectives have something we give to children who have been especially brave in scary situations."

Pearl sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Really?"

"Uh-huh." Lynne nodded, pulling a plastic police badge from her pocket, and pinning it to Pearl's robe. "As a detective of the police force, I hereby deputize you, Pearl Fey." She smiled. "Now, I'm technically out of my jurisdiction, so don't tell my bosses, okay?" She winked playfully.

Pearl looked at the badge. "Hey, this is just like yours!"

"Yep! I got it when I was only a little older than you. Actually, I even got it from that Jowd person that Sissel went to see."

"And he'll help protect the village from those bad people?"

"You know it!" Lynne gave her a thumbs up. "Now, how about you tell me all about your village, so we can try to figure out what those two were up to?"

"Okay!"

* * *

After speaking with Maggey, Phoenix and Maya made their way to the Criminal Affairs department. After all, with it being Maggey's trial and all, Gumshoe would certainly give them as much information as he could. Plus, with Maggey being so secretive, Phoenix really needed to get as much evidence as he could. Why was it that his clients were rarely as cooperative as they should be? Gumshoe looked like he was just getting out of a meeting, so Phoenix and Maya approached him.

"Detective?"

"Oh, hey pal." Gumshoe said, motioning Phoenix and Maya out of the main room. Made sense. It probably wouldn't go over too well if he was caught helping Phoenix _too _much. "So are you going to take Maggey's case?"

Phoenix nodded. "Yeah."

The detective sighed. "That's a relief! With things looking the way they are, she's gonna need the best attorney she can afford."

"Hey, did you hear that, Nick?" Maya asked, nudging Phoenix. "You're the best attorney she can afford!"

"Yeah…" _(Considering her financial situation, that didn't actually seem like much of a compliment…) _"Anyway, I was wondering if you could tell us what you knew. We weren't able to get too much information from Maggey herself."

Gumshoe nodded. "Ah, she must still be shaken from this whole thing. That's understandable, if you ask me. Sure thing, pal. What do you need to know?"

"Well, could you first just give us a basic overview of the crime?"

The detective suddenly looked a lot more downhearted. "I'm not gonna lie: things look pretty bad." He said, hanging his head. "There doesn't seem to be any way anyone else could have gotten into the victim's apartment besides Maggey. We even have video evidence confirming it."

Phoenix gulped. "Video evidence?"

Gumshoe nodded, looking like he was about to cry. "Yeah. The victim had a camera set up watching his front door, and no one else came to his apartment during the murder."

"Well, maybe someone was hiding in his apartment before killing him?" Maya suggested.

The detective shrugged. "It's possible, I guess, but I wouldn't count on it, pal. We've got two whole days of footage, and no one else entered the apartment without leaving again before the murder."

Phoenix groaned for the up-tenth time today. Why couldn't there ever be video evidence that _helped _him? "Hold on. Come to think of it, why was he filming his door in the first place?"

"Detective Spade always was a careful guy. It makes sense, though. He was a great detective, pal, and I wouldn't be surprised if he made some enemies for his work, you know?"

"Speaking of this Detective Spade, what can you tell me about him?" Phoenix asked. "I didn't get much from Maggey besides the fact that he was the one who fired her from the police force."

Gumshoe rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, the victim was Detective Hercule Spade, who had only just retired recently."

"But then he's not really _Detective _Spade anymore, right?" Maya asked with a wry smile.

Detective Gumshoe acted as if she had just slapped him in the face. "T-that may be so, pal, but I Hercule Spade was a good man and a great detective!" He crossed his arms and looked off into the distance in thought. "I looked up to the guy when I was still a rookie, and it sounds like Maggey did the same. It's really too bad that he was the one who had to fire her after that whole thing with Dustin, but she knew it wasn't his fault!" His shoulders sagged. "Of course, you and I both know that that's not going to hold up in court, pal. It looks way too much like a motive."

"Yeah." Phoenix agreed. "Hey, come to think of it, do you know who's going to be prosecuting this case?"

Gumshoe grinned for the first time in their entire conversation. "Now _that _is some good news, pal. I pulled some strings and got Mr. Edgeworth to be the prosecutor."

"…_You _have strings you can pull?" Phoenix asked, aghast.

The detective shrugged again. "Well, I asked Mr. Edgeworth and he pulled some of his strings… But I'm still the one who set the whole thing in motion, pal!"

Maya put her hand to her chin in thought. "But wait a minute. Mr. Edgeworth is a really good prosecutor. Wouldn't it be better to try to get that wimpy bald guy in the glasses or something?"

Phoenix shook his head. "No way, Maya. In that case, I might be able to win more easily, but I'd probably have to pin the blame on an innocent person to do it."

Gumshoe nodded. "Exactly, pal! I figured this could be like that time you and him teamed up to save Maya. You know, no dirty tricks or anything!"

_(Why do I get the feeling he's not talking about _Edgeworth's_ 'dirty tricks?') _Phoenix smiled. This case was going to be tough, no doubt, but now he finally felt like he might have a chance. "Alright. I guess then Maya and I should go check out the crime scene. Could you give us a lift?"

"No can do, pal." Gumshoe said, looking truly sorry. "I'm gonna be stuck her for a while. But the crime scene isn't too far. Know where the Watery Fowels Apartments are?"

"Ew." Maya said.

"Actually, I do." Phoenix said, realizing that he had actually spotted them a couple of times in his investigation the other day. At least, he was pretty sure it was them. _(I don't think that's a common name for an apartment complex…) _Even better, they _were _relatively close.

"Okay, good." Gumshoe said, brightening up a bit. "Here." He handed them a sheet of paper. "This is a letter from Mr. Edgeworth letting you investigate the crime scene. Show this to any officers there, and they should let you through. Also…" He lowered his voice and subtly pulled a manila envelope out of an inner pocket in his jacket. "I got you a copy of the autopsy report."

"Oh wow, thanks Detective Gumshoe!" Maya said.

"Shh! Mr. Edgeworth's giving you guys _some_ special permissions, but I'm still sticking my neck out here, pal." Gumshoe said, discretely handing him the envelope.

"Got it." Phoenix said, sliding the report into his briefcase. "I'll keep it quiet."

"Good!" Gumshoe smiled. "Oh, but you can tell Maggey if you want. I don't want her thinking I'm trying to get her a guilty verdict like she did last time." He looked sad again. "That was one of the most horrible experiences of my life…"

"Uh… don't worry." Phoenix said, awkwardly putting a hand on the moody detective's shoulder. "I'll make sure that Maggey knows how much you're helping us."

"Plus, I don't really think she'll make the mistake of thinking that again." Maya said with a smile. "Not after how nice you were last time she was in trouble!"

Gumshoe smiled weakly. "Thanks, pal. You two are the best."

"Yeah, I know." Maya said.

"Let's go, Maya." Phoenix said, dragging her off. If he'd let her stay, she'd never stop patting her own back. Besides, they still had a lot of work to do.

* * *

Sissel jumped out of the telephone and returned to his body. Pearl, that reliable little lady, was still holding it while conversing with Lynne. Interestingly, she had another one of those plastic police badges pinned to her robe. Actually, that was a really good idea after what she went through. _(Nice work, Lynne.)_

"Oh, hey! Sissel's waking up!" Pearl observed.

"Ah, glad to see you're back!" Lynne said to the cat. "What did Detective Jowd say?"

"_He's going to come here as soon as he can."_ Sissel said. _"And he's not taking no for an answer."_

"That's Detective Jowd for you!" Lynne grinned. "Anyway, don't get too comfortable in your body just yet; I think there's another place you might want to check out."

"_Oh?"_ Sissel's ear twitched.

The trench-coated woman nodded. "Yep! Pearl told me about a channelling dojo in the mountains that has a gigantic Magatama in its main hall. Worse, it's Hazakurain."

"_Hazakurain?"_

"The dojo from the 'Oh, Cult!' article. That means those bad guys probably know about it."

Sissel felt a bit uncomfortable. A _gigantic _Magatama? He wasn't really looking forward to investigating that after how much pain a tiny one caused him. Still, judging from Jeego and Tengo's actions, it wouldn't be that big of a stretch to think that the eyebrowed villain might send some of his other men to try and take it _"I understand." _He looked up at Pearl. _"Do you know their phone number?"_

"Way ahead of ya!" Lynne said, proudly displaying a sheet of paper with numbers on it.

"_I can't read, remember?"_

"You can't read?" Pearl said, looking a bit confused before just looking sympathetic. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not the best reader either…"

"_Oh, it's okay. It hasn't caused me many problems before." _Sissel lied.

"No, what I meant is that Maya wrote it down for Pearl just in case." Lynne explained, looking a little exasperated. "Pearl just went and got it for me."

"…Sissel?" Pearl said, once again looking confused. "Why _do_ you need their phone number?"

"_That's an easy one. My spirit is going to travel there through the phone lines."_

The young medium's jaw dropped. "You can? I had no idea spirits could do that!"

"_Like I said, I'm not an ordinary spirit." _Sissel said, jumping back out of his body to the telephone. This would be a lot faster than trying to get Lynne up into the mountains. _"I'm ready."_

"Okay." Lynne said, picking up the receiver. "Now, Sissel, Pearl said that this number is for a phone booth a little ways away from the temple. Just follow the path up the hill, and that will take you to the there."

"_Got it."_

"Okay." Lynne said, entering some numbers. "Here you go…"

* * *

An instant later, Sissel was _very _glad that he was a ghost. Even though he was unable to feel anything, he could just tell that this location was absolutely frigid. The phone booth he arrived in was located next to a large, rather new looking bridge, as well as a stone with some writing on it, and a wooden sign. The bridge extended across a deep valley with a rushing river at the bottom and lead to what looked like some sort of temple. In fact, if he didn't remember Lynne's instructions, he would have assumed that _it _was Hazakurain temple.

Either way, the most prominent aspect of the area was the heavy snow everywhere. Sissel had never liked the snow, nor the cold. In his first life, he had always preferred to curl up next to a warm fire. Yomiel might have done some terrible things, but he had always been a good friend to Sissel. He was glad that things had turned out okay for him and… well… the 'other' Sissel. Speaking of that, he still needed to figure out what a 'fiance' was supposed to be…

The phone in the booth rang a few more times before going silent. No one was around to actually answer it. That suited Sissel fine; He did some of his best work when he was on his own. Time to figure out a way to get to the temple… He entered the ghost world.

_(_What_?)_

Okay, Sissel clearly wasn't as alone as he thought. There, in a stone on the ground, was the familiar blue flame of a soul.

_(That's impossible…!)_

There was someone possessing that stone.

Someone else with Ghost Tricks.

* * *

_Have I mentioned I love Pearl and Lynne together? Because I do._

_You know, I was really debating whether I wanted to include Jowd or not. In the end, though, I decided that since the Ace Attorney cast already _waaay _outnumbers the Ghost Trick cast, I figured I may as well add him. Especially since there are some GT characters that I really can't think of a plausible reason for including. Either way, don't expect him right away. It takes time to get to LA, after all!_

_Huh, come to think of it, there wasn't much actual crossing over in this chapter, was there?_

_Oh, and like usual, I love me some cliffhangers. See you all next time! Reviews would be awesome!_


	6. Investigation: Opening

"_Hello?"_ Sissel asked cautiously. Even before forming a mental link with the other spirit, he could feel an overwhelming sense of despair and loneliness emanating from it.

"_Ah!" _The spirit recoiled. _"A… cat?" _The flame asked, seeming to regain its composure a bit. Having formed the link by now, Sissel kept expecting the flame to change shape, to take on the form of whoever the spirit belonged to, but it never did. Could it be it still didn't remember what its true form was? But then how did it get here? There didn't seem to be any bodies around…

"_My name is Sissel." _The ghostly cat replied. _"Who are you?"_

He sensed some uncertainty coming from the flame within the stone. _"I… I don't know."_

"_That sometimes happens." _Sissel explained as soothingly as possible. The more and more he saw of this strange spirit, the more he couldn't help but sympathize with its situation. _"Your memories should return eventually. You're a-"_

"_I'm a ghost, aren't I?" _The spirit asked.

"_Yes."_

"_I thought so." _The spirit said, sounding resigned. _"With these… powers… I didn't think I could be anything else."_

"_Speaking of those powers…" _Sissel began carefully. _"Not just everyone who dies gets them."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Those abilities you possess… well, I call them Ghost Tricks." _The cat explained. _"I see you have the ability to posses objects. You can probably manipulate them in some way too."_

"_You mean like this?" _The spirit asked as the stone suddenly floated into the air seemingly of its own accord.

_(Levitation? That's a new one…) _Sissel observed. "_Only very special individuals get powers like those when they die. Do you know where your corpse might be? If we work together, we may be able to find out who you are, or maybe even reverse your death altogether."_

"_I don't know…" _The spirit replied. _"I don't remember seeing any dead bodies around…"_

"_So did you suddenly just wake up here?" _Sissel asked, starting to feel nervous. The snow didn't look deep enough to bury a body… Did someone run off with the corpse before this spirit regained consciousness? Could some of those foreigners have done this?

"_No… I was… somewhere else." _The spirit said quietly. It seemed like they were suddenly starting to clam up, but Sissel didn't know if it was due to uncertainty, or something else. _"I… I flew here in this rock."_

"_Why?"_

"_I don't know! I was scared, so I just started flying!"_

"_Hmm…." _Sissel thought out loud. This was a tricky one. _"Where were you before, then?"_

"_I was in a city of some kind. I think it was kind of close to here too."_

_(Probably LA…) _Sissel mused.

"_Yes… I think it _was _Los Angeles…" _The spirit replied. _(But… how do I know that?)_

"_It's probably a fragment of your memories." _Sissel explained. _"More should return with time."_

"…_! H-how did you do that?"_

Sissel cocked his head to the side. _"Do what?"_

"_You just… read my mind or something!" _The spirit shouted, sounding both offended and frightened.

"_Oh, _that._" _Sissel sighed. _"There are no secrets in the ghost world. I can hear your surface thoughts, and you can hear mine. In fact, you've already responded to a few of them."_

"_O… oh." _Sissel could sense more fear emanating from the flame._ (Then… does that mean he knows about the… murder?)_

"_Murder?" _The cat inquired. He was normally a little more careful of peoples' boundaries, but that wasn't the kind of thought he could ignore. _"What murder?"_

Immediately, he could sense that his conversation partner regretted thinking that. _"It's fuzzy, but… but I think I might have been involved in someone's death."_

Sissel's spectral ears perked up. _"What do you mean?"_

"_I… can't really explain it very well." _The spirit said slowly. _"A lot of the things I remember are just… ideas, concepts. Vague things like that."_

Sissel could easily sympathize._ "I know how you feel."_

"_You do?"_

The cat gave a quick nod. _"Not too long ago, I was in your position." _Well, _technically _not long ago. It felt like it had been two whole lifetimes for Sissel. Hard to believe it truly was only a few months later than the date of that fateful night. _(Heh… come to think of it, that makes me 'Ray' here, doesn't it?)_

"_Ray?"_

"_Sorry, an idle thought." _Sissel explained. "_It was this friend of mine - a dog - who helped me in the past." _He paused awkwardly "_He took the form of a lamp in order to keep his identity a secret."_

"_Wait, wait. Hold on. That's a lot of information all at once!" _The flame said hastily. "_Are all spirits animals? I kind of assumed I was a human being."_

"_You might be." _Sissel said with a bit of a shrug. _"But I'd be careful about assuming. Thinking I was a human was one of the reasons it took me so long to recover _my _memory."_ He really was spilling his guts to this random spirit…. But he couldn't help himself. He couldn't help but remember his own quest for identity… and how he'd wished Ray had been more forthcoming with his knowledge. The least he could do was provide this spirit with some information.

"_And spirits can take forms? Even as disguises?" _The flame continued. _"I thought you said we couldn't keep secrets?"_

"_That's only in the ghost world, and it'_s_… complicated."_

"_I see." _The spirit replied. _"There seem to be a lot of rules to being a ghost."_

Sissel purred a bit in amusement. _"Yeah, I guess there are." _It was completely true, but he'd never had anyone put it so bluntly before. _"Do you want to come with me for a while while you try to piece things together?"_

"_Yes, I would." _The soul replied. _"That's very kind of you."_

The compliment made Sissel feel good. He hadn't thought about it before, but maybe he'd make a good mentor for wayward spirits. It certainly helped that he could relate so closely with their experiences. Plus, while Ray's riddles and lies had been necessary, Sissel with still a little sore about them. Getting manipulated by a _dog _of all creatures was a little embarrassing. This wasn't the time for reminiscing, though. This spirit still had Ghost Tricks, which meant that there likely was more to their death than they realized. Still, first things first…

"_I need to get to Hazakurain Temple." _Sissel thought out loud.

"_I think it's up this hill." _The flame replied quickly.

_(A returning memory? Already?) _Sissel thought. This could be a good omen.

"_Actually, it's just written on that sign over there." _The soul replied.

Sissel blinked. _"You can read?"_ Well, that wasn't bad either. _"That probably means you're a human, then. I haven't met any animals able to read." _His partner didn't reply, and instead just followed him as he slowly made his way up the hill.

* * *

Phoenix sighed as he leafed through the autopsy report for Hercule Spade. According to the document, the man died from a single gunshot wound to his back. However, the shot had not killed him instantly, and he had lived for another five or ten minutes before succumbing to the wound. _(Darn…) _Phoenix had been briefly entertaining the notion of asking Sissel to just avert his fate. After all, not only would that save _his _life, but it would stop Maggey from ever being arrested. Unfortunately, Sissel had explicitly stated that he could only return to four minutes before a death, which ironically made former Detective Spade's ability to hang on to life the only thing preventing them from reviving him.

Even so, he'd have to check with Sissel and see if the cat could at least speak to his ghost. Although his testimony wouldn't hold up in court, it would be very helpful to know what had happened. Phoenix glanced at Maya. He'd thought about asking her to channel the victim during some of his cases in the past, but he never seriously considered it. After all, her only attempted channelings (besides Mia, of course) had both been in highly traumatic situations. Plus, after the death of her mother, Phoenix was worried about pushing her too far.

…Great, he was doing it again. Hadn't Phoenix _just_ decided he was going to start trusting Maya's ability to be strong? That started with them having a serious discussion about what happened at Hazakurain. "Maya-"

"Huh. That's weird. I feel like I've seen this guy somewhere before…" Maya said absentmindedly, peaking over Phoenix's shoulder into the file.

"Hmm?" Phoenix said, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the photo from the victim's ID. Hercule Spade was a slightly portly man with greying hair, not that he had much hair left aside from his mustache. Even so, despite his goofy appearance, even in the photo the man's eyes displayed a fiery determination that Phoenix could only recall seeing in a handful of people. Almost certainly a less-resolute man would not have been able to stay alive as long as Spade did. It truly was a pity. Regardless, Phoenix was surprised to realize that _he _recognized the man from somewhere as well. "Actually… I think I do too."

"Weird." Maya replied.

Phoenix shrugged. "We've probably just seen him before at the police station."

Maya looked a bit unsure for a second before smiling. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Distracted by their recognition of Detective Spade, Phoenix and Maya walked in silence for a short while longer before arriving at their destination: Watery Fowels Apartments. A quick flash of Edgeworth's letter to the officer on duty and they were inside the late Hercule Spade's home.

The apartment wasn't huge, but it was clear that Detective Spade had not been hurting for money either. The door immediately opened into a combination kitchen/living room with rather nice furniture scattered about. Phoenix passed by a rather garish plastic piece of 'art' near the entrance, and stepped into the apartment. Maggey wasn't kidding. The place was a complete mess; chairs and tables were flipped over, many of Detective Spade's personal belongings were strewn about, one of the windows had shattered, and there was a large red stain on the carpet in the center of the room. It said something about the mess that Phoenix almost missed the bloodstain at first.

"Sheesh, what happened here?" Maya asked, stepping over a coffee-table book that had somehow been thrown all the way to the entryway.

"I'm not sure yet." Phoenix said uncertainly. It could have been a great many things that occurred. A struggle? A robbery? Maybe both? But if that was the case, there was no way that Maggey couldn't have noticed. After all, he highly doubted the victim's apartment had been this ransacked before the murder. From what he'd gathered about Hercule Spade, it was very unlikely that he would just leave his apartment in this state. _(If the law office ever ends up like this, I'll eat Charley.) _Unfortunately, that meant he would have to examine this mess carefully in his search for clues. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the items everywhere. The coffee table books had been flung clear across the room from the coffee table itself, for example, while some other books littered the floor right underneath the bookcase they had likely occupied. Furthermore, some shelves of objects had been completely untouched. Some drawers on furniture throughout the room had been pulled out onto the ground and emptied, while others, upon examination, probably hadn't even been opened. Phoenix doubted things could have ended up like this in a struggle, but a robbery, random or specifically targeted, would probably have been a lot more thorough. Had the killer been looking for something that they had found? Or had they just tried to make look like a robbery and not done a very good job? And just where was Maggey during all this?

Maggey. That girl had never lied to Phoenix before. What could have happened to make her suddenly so secretive? What had happened? What had she seen?

After examining the mess on the floor, Phoenix made his way to the broken window. This could have been how the real killer got inside. He looked out of the window. Sure, they were pretty high up, but there was a small concrete ledge outside of the window as well. If someone had really wanted to, they probably could have shimmied their way over, among other methods. He voiced his thoughts to Maya. Of course, this suggested that Hercule Spade had been specifically targeted-

"Wait a minute." Maya said, her hand on her chin. "That theory's got a _contradiction_, Nick." She looked incredibly smug about noticing whatever it was, too.

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? What's that?"

"Look at the floor." Maya said, pointing underneath the window. Unlike most parts of the room, all that Phoenix could see was the tan carpet that lined the rest of the living room.

"What about it?"

"There's no glass there."

Phoenix blinked. She was right. How had he missed that?

"See, if someone really did break in from the outside, there should be glass underneath the window." Maya explained - rather unnecessarily, since Phoenix had already understood the implication, but she looked so proud that he just let her talk. It would be easier than trying to argue with her, anyways. "That means that the window was broken from _inside _the apartment. Look, there's some glass out there." She pointed out onto the ledge. Sure enough, there were some small shards of glass on it. The rest had likely fallen to the street below, and long since been cleaned up, or trampled to dust.

When she was finished, Phoenix shrugged his shoulders. "Wow, you're right. I honestly hadn't noticed that."

"You must be getting old." Maya grinned. "After all, that's pretty much the first contradiction to ever show up in those mystery shows."

"Of course, that means the police probably noticed it too." Phoenix pointed out. "And this doesn't really help our case. If anything, it looks like Maggey was trying to make it _look_ like someone broke in."

Maya pouted. "Why do you always gotta ruin my fun?"

"All part of the job. There has to be _someone _around to do it." Phoenix caught himself. That sounded a lot better in his head. He looked at Maya, who had averted her eyes. _(D'oh! Way to go, Phoenix…) _He chided himself as he quickly moved to examine the closest shelf of goods. _("Hey Maya, in case you forgot, your entire family is dead!" Ugh what's wrong with me?)_ He absentmindedly picked a stuffed bear up off of it. _(Man, this sure brings back some memories…) _Unfortunately, none of them were good. Phoenix doubted he'd ever be able to look at stuffed bears - teddy or otherwise - the same way after… well _that _case. Great, he couldn't segue with this. "Look, Maya…"

"Hey Nick! Catch!" Maya shouted from across the room. Phoenix turned just enough to see a small round object hurtling at his head. Without thinking, he threw his arm out to stop it-

"Woah." Maya said, her eyes wide. It appeared the girl had not been cut as deeply by Phoenix's comment as he thought, and had already gone back to exploring the room while he had been mentally chastising himself. He really needed to stop walking on eggshells so much. "That was… that was really cool!"

Phoenix looked at the object he had managed to snatch out of the air. He immediately recognized it as a softball, which was covered in signatures written in black pen. Among them, were "Dick Gumshoe" and "Maggey Byrde." When he finally looked up from examining it, he saw that his assistant was still gaping at him. "What?"

"You were barely even looking at that thing and you caught it!" Maya said, as if she still couldn't believe it. "When did _you_ get so coordinated?"

"I played a lot of baseball as a kid." Phoenix shrugged. "I was always great in the outfield, and as the pitcher-wait a minute. If you didn't expect me to catch it, why throw it to me in the first place?"

"Uh…no reason." Maya said, sticking out her tongue and knocking herself on the head. "I had no idea you were good at baseball! You're a lawyer!"

"I wasn't always."

"But… you were an art student!"

Phoenix felt himself getting annoyed. "What? Are you saying that lawyers and artists can't be good at sports?" He blinked. "And stop trying to change the subject!

"Sorry! Can't hear you!" Maya said loudly as she moved out of the room.

"Hey, we're not done here!" Phoenix followed, dropping the softball into his briefcase, just in case.

* * *

"_You've got to be kidding me." _Sissel groaned. Could he go _anywhere _without running into death? There, in the center of Hazakurain's main hall, was a rather heavyset robed woman, very clearly dead. Like Kurain Village, this place also probably looked very 'Japanese.' The walls and floor were made out of wood, but there were plenty of mats in the corner of the room to sit on. The woman seemed to have been sitting on one herself near the fire pit in the middle of the room (Was it a good idea to have a fire pit in such a flammable room? Sissel wondered. Not only was the building wood, but there were large paper scrolls draped along the walls) before… somehow… dying a few yards away from it. Judging from the pot of food on the fire, whoever had done this probably wanted to make it look like she had choked to death on a hunk of meat or something. If it weren't for the giant Magatama in the shrine on one end of the room - which Sissel had been trying not to think too much about - he probably would have believed it. However, it was almost certain that the foreigners were behind this.

"_Is she…?"_ His spirit partner began.

"_Yeah."_

"_So… what happens now?"_ The spirit sounded unsure if the answer was really something it wanted to hear.

Sissel smiled - or would have, if his facial muscles wouldn't have made it look more angry than anything - and said,_ "Now we save her."_ He extended his reach to the core in the woman's skull, and immediately found himself back in the world of the dead. _"Hello?" _He asked her soul flame cautiously. If he wasn't careful, he was liable to get both the woman and his new partner confused.

"_Ohoho! So I guess it's finally time for me to pass on, eh?"_ The flame asked, taking on the form of the woman who laughed surprisingly jovially. Sissel couldn't help but notice the fat on her cheeks jiggled rather hypnotically when she did that._ "I must say, I was hoping for a much more handsome spirit guide, but I guess the dead can't be picky!"_

"_You're… taking this surprisingly well." _The cat finally managed to get out.

The woman shrugged. _"Death isn't really all that frightening when you know that something exists on the other side."_

Sissel's partner finally spoke up. _"Really? I think I still wouldn't want to die, even if I knew I was going to be a ghost."_

"_Oh, I don't think I _wanted _to die just yet." _The dead woman said. _"But it's not like I can do anything about it now."_

Sissel looked straight into her eyes. _"What if I said you can?"_

* * *

"So… this must be where he died, huh?" Maya asked, her chipper attitude gone.

Phoenix nodded grimly. "Yeah." Despite his and Maya's (_especially _Maya's) informal behavior around crime scenes, it was always sobering whenever they first happened upon the site of a death. On the floor of Hercule Spade's bedroom was a tape outline of a human body draped contorted on the floor. Despite his main position was away from the door, Spade's right arm was extended back in the direction of the exit, and there was yet another bloodstain on the carpet. Not only that, but judging from its smearing, the man had crawled - or been dragged - at least part of the way here. According to the autopsy report, the police had found Detective Spade's body with a pistol in his hand. More importantly, hispistol. Or, at least, _probably _his pistol. Gun laws had recently become a lot stricter in the LA area, almost to the severity of those in Japan, and so they couldn't be certain it belonged to him. Strangely, the room itself was in immaculate condition when compared to the trashed living room; The only thing out of place here was a jewelry box on the floor near him. Otherwise, it was pretty much what you would expect from the bedroom of a single former-detective. There was nothing particularly ornate around, but everything was functional, and the room looked nice enough. Deciding he'd discovered all he could be just looking, Phoenix stepped gingerly over one of the bloodstains and picked up the jewelry box.

"I wonder what I guy like this was doing with a box like that." Maya said. Indeed, the jewelry box didn't really mesh with rest of Detective Spade's belongings. It was too… ornate. Phoenix turned it around in his hand. The box was golden (whether it was painted or actual gold, Phoenix didn't know) and covered in small gemstones. It was about nine inches long and six inches wide, with a piece of soft red fabric inside of it. It also had a couple of small drawers, but neither the drawers, nor the main box itself actually contained anything. "Is there anything in it?" Maya asked.

"Nope, nothing." Phoenix said. _(Was the killer looking for whatever was in this?) _What could have been in valuable enough to someone to justify such a strangely perplexing crime scene? In exasperation, he ran his hands through his hair.

"Nick?"

"Nothing here makes sense!" Phoenix groaned. "Why can't we ever get a simple case?"

"Our last case was pretty easy." Maya pointed out.

"Yeah, except we _died_!" Phoenix said, suddenly catching himself. "…A-almost, I mean."

"Eh, that's pretty much par for the course now, isn't it? He didn't get anywhere as close as… well… you know." Maya shrugged in an attempt to appear nonchalant, but it was clear that it wasn't really something she liked to think about. Phoenix didn't want to correct her.

"I think we've seen all there is to see here." He said, hoping to change the subject. "Let's take one more pass through the next room and see if we can make it back to the Detention Center before visiting hours are up. There's a few things I need to ask to Maggey about." _(Namely, her Psyche-Locks)_

* * *

Surprisingly, the woman Sissel found in Hazakurain actually _had _died by choking to death on a hunk of meat. Even so, her fate was still mildly difficult to avert. After all, there wasn't much Sissel could do to stop her from _eating_. Eventually, though, he was able to tip the cooking pot over, thus depriving her of dinner, but saving her life. The other spirit went along with them, and silently watched Sissel as he demonstrated the good Ghost Tricks could do. Honestly, there really wasn't much else to say other than that. Now, the three of them were back in the present, and the nun they had rescued was in the process of introducing herself.

"You see, we nuns pick our own names, and I couldn't seem to remember it while I was dead." She explained.

"_That's understandable."_ Sissel said. _"My companion here is having memory problems as well."_

The robed woman looked sympathetic. "I'm truly sorry to hear that. I would offer some traditional Hazakurain remedies, but most of them involve sitting underneath a freezing waterfall, so I kind of doubt those would do you two any good." Despite the situation, she laughed again. "I doubt there's much that would hate water more than a cat and a flame!"

_(Hilarious)_ Sissel thought. "You were saying?" He hoped that this woman, now that she had all of her memories restored, could give him a clue about what to do next, or about the identity of the anonymous spirit with him.

"Right, right. My name is Bikini." She said. "Pretty appropriate, huh?" Once again, she laughed loudly, her large cheeks jiggling for real this time, rather than spectrally.

"_Erm… if you say so." _Sissel's companion said skeptically. And then, quietly, _"Maybe I'm missing something here. I mean, I_ do_ have amnesia…" _

_(I don't get it)_

"So what do I call my saviors?" Bikini asked.

"_Sissel." _

"_I… I'm not sure."_

Bikini smiled a smile that was surprisingly minimalistic. When compared to her usual animated laughter, she actually appeared very understanding. Almost grandmotherly… "Well, either way, thank Ami Fey you were here."

"_Speaking of that…" _Sissel began. _"What can you tell me about that large Magatama over there?"_

"Oh, this?" Bikini said, nodding her head in the direction of shrine at the end of the room. "It is the most important thing our entire temple; Just like the Kurain Boulder is the source of our powers and the centerpiece of all rituals in Kurain Village, our Magatama serves a similar purpose at Hazakurain. Since we are just a branch temple, we possess one of the Great Magatamas, carved from a piece of the Kurain Boulder itself."

"_Great Magatamas?"_

Bikini nodded. "Yes. All temples outside of the main village have one. It serves as our link to the spirit world."

"_And it's really carved from a piece of the Kurain Boulder?"_

Bikini laughed once again. "Of course! You didn't think the Kurian Boulder was always so rectangular, did you?"

_(But… that can't be right…) _Sissel was puzzled. At face value, Bikini's story made a lot of logical sense, especially since it would allow those born at the supposed "branch" temples to receive spiritual powers as well. Besides, it would explain the Kurain Boulder's odd shape. However, there was one major flaw in the story:

The Great Magatama wasn't giving off any radiation.

"Of course, the practice of carving Magatamas out of the Kurain Boulder has long since been abolished." The nun continued. "Otherwise there wouldn't be any of the actual Boulder left!" Sissel was beginning to think she had some sort of compulsion to keep laughing like that. "Now it's much more common to carve them out of a different kind of stone that we are able to charge with our own spiritual energies.

"_And… do _you _have any 'spiritual energy?'" _Sissel asked cautiously. The question already seemed rude, and there was no way of knowing what the etiquette was for members of the Kurain Channelling Technique, but he needed to know.

For the first time since they'd met, Bikini looked legitimately sad. "…No. I was unlucky enough to be born without any spiritual power whatsoever." She laughed again, but this time it was a lot weaker, and maybe a little bitter. "But I am a member of the branch family. It shouldn't come as a surprise."

Sissel wanted desperately to inquire about what the "branch family" was, but it seemed like a bit of a touchy subject. He wanted to avoid asking Bikini too many hard questions, especially since he could very well get the information from Lynne or Pearl. Considering Pearl was supposed to have a lot of spiritual power, it would probably be less offensive to ask her.

"You know… it's odd." Bikini said, her hands on her hips as she gazed off into space. "There was a pair of people here just a few days ago who asked me pretty much the exact same questions."

_(…!)_

"_Sissel?" _His understandably quiet companion asked. _"Is something wrong?"_

"_What sort of people?" _Sissel asked, dreading the answer.

Bikini looked thoughtful. "Well… there was this man. Not particularly attractive if you ask me - kind of scrawny and greasy, and that black suit wasn't particularly good looking - but I guess she must have seen something in him."

Sissel didn't like where this was going. Not one bit. _"'She?'"_

Bikini nodded. "There was this tall blonde woman with him. She was in black too. I'm not sure where she was from, but it definitely wasn't America. She was definitely the smart one of the pair." She looked angry all of a sudden. "She was very rude too. Reminded me a bit of another woman I met once." She paused for a moment, before shaking herself out of her reminiscence. "Either way, they seemed to be lovers, considering how the man kept fawning over her." She laughed. "Of course, maybe he was just overcompensating to hide his obvious attraction to me!"

"_Aren't you supposed to be a nun?" _The unnamed spirit asked.

"What's your point? Ever heard of the 'forbidden fruit?' Men love that sort of thing!"

"_It's just… you seem… never mind."_

Once again, Sissel didn't quite get it. But that didn't matter right now. He was certain he knew exactly who she was talking about _"What did they want to know?"_

Bikini shrugged. "Pretty much what you did. The Magatama, the source of our powers, all of that."

"_And you told them what you told us?"_

"Pretty much."

"_And they just left you alone after that?"_

"Yes. Why? Is there something wrong?"

"_You shouldn't stay here. It's dangerous." _

She blinked at Sissel's blunt reply, before averting her eyes. "Unfortunately, I'm the only one left at Hazakurain, and there must always be a nun at the temples." She looked back up. "It's my duty as a member of the branch family."

Sissel sighed. The woman seemed scared, but he also sensed an odd determination in her. He could tell he wouldn't be able to convince her. Even if her courage should falter, she seemed far too devoted to her duty to abandon the temple. _"…Fine. Just… be careful. I might not be here to save you next time."_

The woman gazed at him with an expression that, for the first time since they started talking, made her look as wise as she ought to for her age. "I understand. Good luck. …And, other spirit?"

"…_Yes?"_

"I hope you get your memory back soon."

Sissel might have been imagining it, but he believed he sensed that his companion was touched by the stranger's concern. _"Thank you."_

"_Come with me." _Sissel said to the spirit. He wondered if they could travel through telephone lines. Eh, it probably didn't matter. If Yomiel could hitch a ride with him to the past, what was to say you couldn't get one through the telephone?

As they exited the temple, Sissel was surprised to see that it was dark. It must have taken him longer than he thought to save Bikini. It always seemed that they would jump back to the future an amount of time proportional to the amount of time they spent going to the past. They could very well have missed out on a couple of hours. Hopefully there would still be a train available to get them back to LA. Otherwise, he, Lynne and their new guest would need to take advantage of the Feys' hospitality for one more night.

* * *

Unfortunately for Phoenix, Maggey was in questioning for the rest of visiting hours. That meant no solving of Psyche-Locks today. That _also _meant that Maya had missed the last train to Kurain. Oh well, one more night in the city couldn't hurt. Besides, with her inheritance of the (admittedly diminished) Kurain fortune, she was easily able to afford a small place of her own in LA, so it wasn't like either of them were going to be in uncomfortable conditions for the night. _(Well… there doesn't seem to be much else I can do today.) _It suddenly occurred to Phoenix how tired he was. He hadn't slept well the night before, for obvious reasons, and then he had a trial in the morning before an unrelated investigation in the afternoon/evening. He hadn't even taken the time to have lunch. By now, he barely had the time to get back to his apartment, let alone go out to eat. _(I guess it's time to take a page from Detective Gumshoe's book. It looks like it's instant noodles before bed…) _Bed. That sounded nice. At this point, the best thing he could do for his case was get a good night's sleep.

* * *

Indeed, it _was _too late to catch a train back to the city, so Sissel and Lynne were stuck for another night alone in the massive Fey Manor. Pearl had gone to sleep by then too, so Sissel was unable to question her about the intricacies of Kurain traditions. Either way, Lynne was still awake, so they swapped stories. Lynne had gathered much less practical information, but she'd learned a lot about the Kurain Channelling Technique, so she was able to fill Sissel in on some of the details. They tried to solve the mystery of Sissel's companion's missing memories, but came up with a big fat nothing. Either way, once Lynne finally nodded off, Sissel took the spirit to one of the Manor's courtyards in order better explain Ghost Tricks. All in all, it felt really good to have someone to teach. In all the ghosts he'd met, he'd never found anyone with a situation quite to similar to his when he was starting out. It really felt right to pass on what he knew.

Even so, all the time he was thinking about what the foreigners might be up to. And what about that murder the spirit mentioned? Whether the spirit knew it or not, Sissel was almost certain that there was a powerful, painful secret locked deep within those hidden memories. Yet another reason to sympathize, but he needed to be diligent as well. There was no telling what they may hold.

Tomorrow… tomorrow he and Lynne would set out in full force. They were going to solve these mysteries. They _had _to.

* * *

_Ugh... I _hate _investigations. They're not all that fun in the games, and they're certainly not fun to write. I got stuck many a time on the investigation of Detective Spade's apartment. Speaking of, I'm actually pretty proud of how that came out. I tried to keep it light and humorous at times, since Phoenix and Maya always have some of their best interactions during their investigations, but I dunno how well I was able to transfer it over. Either way, it was kind of scary to put down details about the crime, which is one of the major reasons I took so long on this chapter. After all, it meant I was locking down certain aspects of the crime. No more changing of the murder for me! :P_

_As I was compiling this chapter, I noticed a whole lot of parallelism between the two investigations. It helped me write it, since I could pretty easily switch off between the two whenever I got stuck one one, but it might have gone a little too far, especially at the end. Oh well, parallelism is what crossovers are all about, right?_

_The end of this chapter feels a little rushed to me, but I'm going camping tomorrow without internet and I _really _wanted to get this done before that, so hopefully there aren't too many typos. -_-; Speaking of, I'm still looking for a beta reader if anyone is interested. Send me a PM if you are._

_Guess what? Next chapter, Phoenix finally gets to do his job! On screen! Well... figuratively. Took him long enough, the lazy bum._


	7. State v Byrde: Trial Former

_(Well… today's the day.) _Phoenix almost yawned out of sheer habit before catching himself. Actually, he'd slept surprisingly well the night before. He almost never got this much rest before a trial, which, all things considered, was pretty sad in and of itself. Even so, now he was worried that maybe he'd spent _too _much time sleeping and not enough preparing his case. That said, there wasn't much else he _could _have done last night. The crime scene's odd nature made it nearly impossible to develop any concrete theories without more information, but Phoenix was always better defending by the seat of his pants than planning out intricate defensive strategies. Yet another depressing aspect of the way he did his job.

Phoenix checked his watch before casting his eyes about the Defendant Lobby once again. When were those doors going to open? When was Maggey going to arrive? The trial was set to start any minute, and she still hadn't showed up. He _really _wanted to break those Psyche-Locks before court began. The more he knew, the better chance he stood.

Then again, he should probably count his blessings. The crime scene was already full of contradictions, which would definitely give Phoenix some footholds on his long climb to the truth. Plus, it was Edgeworth on the other side of the courtroom this time. Not Godot, with his imagined vendetta, nor the von Karmas, with their perfect win records. Despite the "Demon Prosecutor's" history, Edgeworth had long since developed into an honest and fair attorney who wouldn't try any underhanded tricks to win the case. Not to mention, Phoenix had his most trusted assistant by his side. He smiled a bit despite himself. Come to think of it, it had been a long, _long _time since the three of them had all been in court together. It was actually starting to make him feel a bit nostalgic.

"…Nick? Are you okay?" Maya asked, with an expression that looked somehow looked simultaneously bemused and worried. "You never look this happy before a trial. You're normally sweating like crazy right about now." She nudged him. "You haven't finally lost it, have you?"

Phoenix sighed. "No, I was just thinking about something. It's been a while since we've had a case like this."

Maya looked confused. "…I guess? Still not sure what you're smiling about, though." She shrugged. "But I guess it's healthier to look at the bright side of things once in a while."

"Healthier?"

"Yeah. If you keep it up with that 'glass half empty' attitude all the time, you're going to end up having a nervous breakdown or something."

_(If anyone's going to end up giving me a nervous breakdown, it's you.) _

"Mr. Wright!" Maggey shouted as she entered the room with a bailiff, who proceeded to remove the handcuffs she'd had latched onto her wrists. As expected, she was still wearing her street clothes. Phoenix was less happy she still had that bright red jacket and hat.

"Maggey!" Maya greeted her. "We were wondering when you would get here!"

"Where were you?" Phoenix asked. "There are some things I've been needing to talk to you about."

"Sorry about that." The defendant said with a slight blush. "I had to talk to Prosecutor Edgeworth and Detective Gumshoe when I got here, and I lost track of time."

"Well, okay." Phoenix said, trying to hide his annoyance. _(Even when they're helping me I can't catch a break…)_ "Anyway, I was wondering if you could tell me about-"

As per usual, he was interrupted by the bailiff approaching them. "Please come this way. The trial is about to begin."

Great, there went his prep time. _(Yep, good feeling's gone.)_

* * *

The Judge slammed his gavel down, silencing the prevalent murmur of the courtroom's viewing gallery. "Court is now in session for the trial of Maggey Byrde. Are the prosecution and defense ready?"

"The defense is ready, Your Honor." Phoenix said without a hint of hesitation. Of course, he wasn't really ready. He was _never _ready. Still, he'd said that particular line so often that even he sometimes believed it.

"The prosecution is ready as well, Your Honor." Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix's longtime friend and rival, said calmly from the other side of the courtroom. Unlike Phoenix, the cravat-ed, magenta-suited prosecutor probably had an intricate battle plan all thought up.

"Hmm… I did not expect to see you back here so soon, Mr. Wright." The Judge said, rubbing his chin. "Unless I'm mistaken, didn't you just participate in another trial yesterday?"

Phoenix nodded. "Yeah, that's right." _(Trust me, if I could have taken a break, I would have.)_

"And Mr. Edgeworth." The Judge continued. "I believe I read in the newspaper that you just prosecuted a trial of your own. Some big international incident, if I remember correctly."

Edgeworth smirked a bit. "Indeed I was, Your Honor. I must admit it was quite the trial."

"Well then." The Judge said, looking at both of them sternly. "While I admire both of your work ethics, I hope you two are as prepared as you say."

"Hehe…" Phoenix laughed nervously. "Y-yes sir."

Edgeworth was far more composed. "Of course, Your Honor." He bowed dramatically, but Phoenix couldn't help but notice small bags under his eyes. It was odd. Phoenix had rarely seen Edgeworth weary. But he couldn't really blame him. Phoenix had read about the trial as well - a high profile murder occurred at the embassy for some small country. He didn't remember the details very well (who had the time to read the paper nowadays?) but it seemed the culprit had access to a large number of skilled lawyers. Even with an airtight case, Edgeworth probably would have had some trouble putting the true criminal away. And according to the newspaper, the trial had indeed taken quite a while to complete. Edgeworth won, of course, but Phoenix highly doubted it was easy.

"Now then." The Judge continued. "Your opening statement please, Mr. Edgeworth."

Edgeworth nodded. "Very well, Your Honor." He paused a moment before continuing. "At approximately 11:45 PM on the night of March 21st, the victim, Hercule Spade, was murdered in his apartment. The defendant, Maggey Byrde, was the only other person in the room at the time. This fact, combined with the evidence recovered at the scene, implicates her as the only possible culprit."

Phoenix gulped. Even from that, it already didn't appear like there was anyone else who could have committed the crime. Of course, _all _of his trials started like this. _(I don't know why I'm still surprised by this sort of thing…)_

The Judge nodded. "I see. Mr. Wright, how does the defense plead?"

"Not guilty, Your Honor." _(As if I'd plead any other way.)_

"Very well. Mr. Edgeworth, you may now call your first witness."

Edgeworth barely acknowledged the Judge's prompt. At the moment, everything was protocol. "The prosecution calls Dick Gumshoe to the stand."

Phoenix saw Gumshoe straighten up in the gallery and make his way down to the witness stand. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Maggey stiffen in the defendant's chair.

_(Here we go…)_

"Witness, please state your name and occupation." Edgeworth said calmly.

"Dick Gumshoe. I'm a detective at the local precinct. I was in charge of the investigation." Gumshoe said, standing as tall as absolutely possible. He didn't mess up his introduction this time either. The man was clearly focusing has hard as he could on his testimony. Phoenix really felt for the guy. It wasn't often that you had to testify against someone you care so much for, to say nothing of having to do it multiple times. Phoenix knew exactly how he felt. He just hoped that Maggey was more innocent than the girl he'd thought he loved.

"Please provide the court with information about the crime." Edgeworth continued.

"Yes, sir." Gumshoe took a moment to compose himself, before beginning. "It's like Mr. Edgeworth said… we received a call at about 11:50 on the night of the murder complaining about loud noises, and possibly a gunshot, coming from the Detective Spade's apartment. We sent a squad car to check it out, and I went along because…." He scratched the back of his head. "Well, because I always respected Detective Spade and I wanted to make sure he was okay. When no one answered the door_, _I kicked it down." He smiled sheepishly.

"Hey, just like you, Nick!" Maya whispered.

"Shh!" Phoenix shushed her. "And besides, that was only a couple of times!"

Unaware of their conversation, Gumshoe gulped before continuing. "The apartment was a mess. Things were thrown everywhere, and Maggey was… well, she was just standing in the center of it all, as if she was in a daze. One of the boys noticed a bloodstain in the living room, and a quick investigation of the crime scene revealed the victim's body in his bedroom. We have it on good authority that Maggey was the only one in the apartment at the time of the murder. Looking at the evidence, there doesn't seem to be anyone other than her who could have done it." He said that last sentence so sheepishly that Phoenix barely heard it.

The Judge nodded. "I see. That does seem quite compelling. If there was no one else in the apartment, it seems unlikely that anyone else could have committed the crime."

"Y-yeah." Gumshoe looked like he was ripping his heart out in agreeing with the Judge. He glanced at Edgeworth for some emotional support… and found none.

_(Surprise, surprise.) _

"Did you spot any contradictions in there, Nick?" Maya whispered again.

Phoenix shook his head. "No… I don't think I have enough information to contest anything he said either. I think I'm just going to have to press some of the vaguer aspects of his testimony." Even in Edgeworth's Demon Prosecutor days, he couldn't win a trial with just this testimony. He would have to call another witness later, which meant that this was a prime time to gather information. The more Phoenix could learn from this testimony, the better his chances would be later on.

"Very well. Mr. Wright, you may now begin your cross-examination." The Judge continued.

"Yes, Your Honor." Phoenix turned to the detective, who seemed to have trouble preventing a smile from creeping onto his face. Phoenix was almost positive the man was expecting him to tear his testimony apart. Unfortunately, he couldn't do that quite yet. _(Sorry Gumshoe, but I'm afraid it won't be that easy.) _"How long did it take you to reach the victim's apartment?"

"I'd say about fifteen minutes." Gumshoe replied. "We got there around 12:05."

Phoenix logged that tidbit of information away and continued his questioning. "So, you said you have it on 'good authority' that Maggey was the only one in the apartment?"

The scruffy detective nodded. "Yeah, pal. You know that weird sculpture that Detective Spade had by his front door?"

"You mean that ugly plastic thing?" Maya piped up.

"I thought that was just supposed to be modern art or something." Phoenix shrugged.

Gumshoe shrugged as well, but with a sheepish grin. "Yeah, that's what I thought too, pal." He held up a photograph of the apartment and passed it around. "I mean, look at this thing. What else _could_ it be?"

"You mean that orange thing there in the corner?" The Judge asked, baffled, as he squinted at the photo. "It's not just one of those newfangled light fixtures that are popping up nowadays?"

_(I've never seen _anything _that looked like that, let alone a light fixture…)_ "No, it's got to be art." Phoenix said. "Like… uh… I'll bet those funnels jutting out of it represent the ever expanding reach of modern society or something."

Maya seemed astonished by Phoenix's comment. "Oh, wow, Nick! I never knew you were an art buff!"

"Oh! I see it now!" The Judge said. "If you think of it as a sort of rain catcher, there's no way all of those funnels going in different directions could catch water at the same time! By trying to have too many things, society is unable to keep a hold on any of them!"

"Oh yeah!" Gumshoe said in realization.

"I see it!" Maggey said, pointing at the photo.

"This is really fun!" Maya laughed.

"**OBJECTION!**" Came a deep voice from across the courtroom. Everyone started, and turned their attention to its origin. Edgeworth did not look pleased by their discussion. In fact, he was positively sweating. "That… thing is not art, not in the slightest. I mean, look at it! At first glance, one should think 'tacky knicknack,' not 'modern art!' Why, that plywood monstrosity outside of the police station is more artistic than this."

"R-really, sir? You mean it?"

"That was _not _meant as a compliment, Detective." Edgeworth grunted. "Now, can we please get back to the matter at hand? This is no ordinary…" He paused, as if he was desperately trying to find a better word, before settling on… "_sculpture,_" He said the word with a loathing that Phoenix rarely heard from Edgeworth. "Is it, Detective?"

Gumshoe coughed and looked apologetic. "No it isn't. Actually, Detective Spade had a camera hidden in it."

The Judge blinked. "A camera?"

Gumshoe nodded. "Yeah. He used it to film his front door. We looked through his footage, and Maggey was the only person to enter the apartment before the crime took place." Gumshoe paused and looked forlorn. "Besides, the guy didn't really get too many visitors."

"Is that so?" The Judge asked. "That's too bad. He was always very polite when he would testify for me."

The Detective looked even more guilty. "I know. I really should have visited him while I had the chance. I always looked up to him…"

"Poor Gumshoe." Maya whispered sympathetically.

Phoenix, too, couldn't help but feel bad for Detective Gumshoe. The pain of losing a mentor… that was something he was all too familiar with. Even so, he still needed more information. "Did the camera catch anything else?"

"Nope." Gumshoe shook his head. "It was only watching the door and it didn't record any sound. Nothing else appeared on it between Maggey going inside and us showing up."

Darn. But that did make sense. If it recorded something that might exonerate Maggey, she wouldn't really be on trial, would she? Time to change the subject. "Maybe someone could have ducked underneath the camera?"

"Unfortunately, that's not possible." Gumshoe said. "The camera was positioned in such a way that it caught the entire front door in frame. There's no way someone could have snuck past it."

"What about through the window?" Phoenix offered.

The detective brightened up. "Oh yeah, pal! Maybe that's what happened!"

"**OBJECTION!"** Edgeworth said. "The victim lived on the fifth floor of his building, and the small concrete ledge outside of the window would be extremely difficult to balance on. As there were no other reported break-ins that night, it would suggest that Hercule Spade was specifically targeted."

"Well, maybe that's what happened." Phoenix said. "The victim was once a detective; he was bound to have made some enemies."

"If that were the case," Edgeworth replied. "Then it would not explain why he was killed with his own weapon rather than one brought by those who supposedly targeted him and made the necessary preparations to enter from the window."

Phoenix grimaced. That explanation made a lot of sense. Okay then. Time to switch tactics. "So, Detective Gumshoe. You said the apartment was a mess?"

"Uh-huh. It was… well, you can probably see it best in this picture." Gumshoe passed around another photograph, this time of the living room."

"My, my." The Judge said, his eyes wide. "Look at that large bloodstain in the middle of the room! I take it this was where the Hercule Spade was killed?"

Gumshoe rubbed the back of his head. "Well… not exactly. That was where Detective Spade was shot - and we have confirmed that's _his _blood - but his body was found in his bedroom. We assume he crawled there."

The Judge nodded thoughtfully. "Ah, that would explain that sort of path leading out of the room. I must say, this apartment is a mess. It sure looks like quite the struggle took place here."

"**HOLD IT!**" Phoenix shouted. "A struggle? Do you really think Maggey would be capable of fighting for so long against a hardened member of the police force?"

"I was on the police force too…" Maggey said softly, but Phoenix kept talking. While he didn't want to hurt Maggey's feelings, the idea that someone of her size and weight could so violently trash the apartment was ridiculous. "I mean, look at that place. If they were fighting, it would have to be long and drawn out to make such a mess."

Gumshoe shrugged. "I dunno, pal. As you can see from the autopsy report," The courtroom was nearly deafened by the sound of multiple folders opening across the room. "Detective Spade was pretty old. I hate to say it, but it's possible that Maggey could have held her own against him." It looked like it was killing him to say it. He glanced at Maggey, who bore a similar expression. "B-but, come on! Maggey would never-"

"**OBJECTION!**" It was Edgeworth. "Detective. This is a court of law. I'll have to ask that you remain professional. Stick to the facts, please."

Gumshoe's puppy dog expression was heartbreaking, but Edgeworth didn't seem to notice. "Y-yes, sir." He paused. "Even so, the evidence suggests that the mess was likely made _after _Detective Spade was shot."

"After?"

"Yeah, pal. The police department's official stance is that the culprit tried to stage the thing to look like a robbery."

The Judge looked thoughtful. "I see. So then you're saying that this broken window I see here…?"

Gumshoe nodded. "Yep. There weren't any shards of glass found on the inside of the window, but there were some on the small overhang outside. That means that it was broken from _inside _the apartment."

"Ah ha!" The Judge snapped his fingers. Phoenix winced. Snapping fingers did not lend themselves to pleasant memories. In fact, he thought he saw Edgeworth's eye twitch ever so slightly. "I knew it. After watching all of those crime programs, the first place I looked was under the window to see if there were pieces of glass."

Despite himself, Gumshoe grinned. "Same here, sir!"

Edgeworth looked annoyed. "I am _thrilled_ that our country's police force is learning its investigation techniques from _Law and Order_."

"Hey! Give us some credit!" Gumshoe said defensively. "You'd have to be pretty stupid not to notice that!"

"Aw… and I felt so good about noticing that…" Maya said quietly.

_(Sorry Maya… maybe next time.) _

Suddenly she perked up. "Oh well! At least _I _noticed it, unlike you."

"Oh, shut up." _(No more sympathy for you.)_

"But as I was saying," Detective Gumshoe continued. "What probably happened is the murderer trashed the apartment after shooting Detective Spade in the back. Then they broke the window to make it look like a robbery. That would explain the broken window, as well as the mess everywhere."

"So… what do you think, Nick?" Maya whispered. "That _does _make a lot of sense, doesn't it?"

"Yeah…" Phoenix hated to admit it, but it seemed a struggle was pretty improbable. Besides, Gumshoe's explanation was pretty much the only way to explain the window. _(I've got to be missing something here…) _He glanced at the picture one more time.

_(…!)_

"**OBJECTION!**" Phoenix shouted, slamming his palms flat on his desk. Gumshoe jumped for a moment, but then looked like Christmas had come early. "I think your theory has some holes in it, Detective Gumshoe."

Gumshoe smiled. "Oh really? Well don't leave me in suspense, lay it on me, pal!"

"You're saying that the apartment was trashed _before_ the victim was shot, correct?"

The detective nodded. "Yeah, pal."

"Maybe you should take a closer look at your photo of the crime scene."

"At… the photo?"

"More specifically, at the blood stain in the center of the room." Phoenix continued. "Doesn't it strike you as odd that all of the junk has been pushed out of the way? If the mess was truly made _after _the murder, you'd think there would be some objects on top of the bloodstain, instead of forming a circle around it. It looks more like the victim had to crawl his way through the junk to get to his bedroom!"

"Interesting theory." Edgeworth said, his arms crossed. "I was wondering when you would notice that, Wright. But then what are you suggesting? That there _was _a struggle?"

Phoenix shook his head. "I don't think so. Detective Spade was shot in the back. I highly doubt he would have turned his back on his attacker if they were struggling, especially with a gun involved."

"I'm afraid I don't understand." The Judge said, a baffled look on his face. "You're saying the apartment was messed up _before _the crime, but that there wasn't a struggle?"

"Precisely, Your Honor."

"**OBJECTION!**" Edgeworth shouted, slamming his hand down. "We have plenty of reports that Hercule Spade was a very organized man. During our investigation, everyone who had ever been in his apartment in the past noted its cleanliness. Why would it be a mess now?"

"That's a very good question." Phoenix replied. He hunched over a bit. "Unfortunately, one I don't really know the answer to at the moment."

"Hey Nick," Maya whispered "I thought Mr. Edgeworth was supposed to be helping us out here. Why didn't he say anything about there being nothing on the bloodstain?"

"That's not his job." Phoenix whispered back. "He's helping us, but he's still the prosecutor. He has his role and so do I. He knew I wouldn't miss something like that. If neither of us pull our punches, then I'm confident the truth will come out in the end."

"I'm not sure how that's any different from how he usually is." Maya pouted.

"While this is quite the conundrum, I'm afraid it doesn't really help your client either, Mr. Wright." The Judge said after thinking for a moment. "The state of the apartment is indeed strange, but there is still nothing to suggest that Maggey Byrde wasn't the one to do it."

Phoenix grimaced. The Judge was right. Although it _was _a contradiction, it still didn't change the fact that Maggey was supposedly the only one in the apartment. But he couldn't surrender one of his footholds so easily. "But it _does _suggest that we are missing _something_ crucial regarding the crime. The mess wasn't made after the murder, but it wasn't made during a struggle either. Plus, we know Detective Spade was neat and tidy, so the place probably wasn't just randomly messy. This means that, for some reason or another, the mess had to have been made _before _the crime, which goes against the police's theory that Maggey staged a robbery."

"**OBJECTION!"** Edgeworth shouted, but he didn't look happy about it. "You are missing one possible explanation, Wright. Namely, that Ms. Byrde anticipated this line of thinking and deliberately cleared her mess away from the stain on the floor."

"**OBJECTION!" **Phoenix yelled back. "But in that case, wouldn't there be blood on some of the objects in the room? Ones that ended up getting thrown into the blood and cleared away?"

"**OBJECTION! **There is no way of knowing how careful the culprit was when creating the mess. Just because the objects are cleared away doesn't mean that they were deliberately thrown into the puddle of blood. Even with only ten or fifteen minutes, it wouldn't have been too difficult to weave such a fabrication. In fact, that would explain why only the living room was in such bad condition while the victim's bedroom was virtually untouched."

Phoenix slammed the desk. "But… but then how did Detective Spade get into his bedroom?"

Edgeworth shrugged. "He very likely could have been dragged and the culprit just didn't have time to do anything else in the room." Phoenix grimaced. Everything Edgeworth said was definitely possible. At Phoenix's silence, Edgeworth added. "Now, shall we get back to the testimony?"

Phoenix nodded, his confidence deflated. "Yeah." He straightened up and turned back to Gumshoe. "Detective. The autopsy report says that the victim was found with a gun in his hand." He paused, worried to ask. "There… weren't any fingerprints on it, were there?" _(If there were, wouldn't he have brought them up…?)_

"Only Detective Spade's prints were found on the gun." Gumshoe said, matter-of-factly.

"However, that changes nothing." Edgeworth added. "Ms. Byrde was a member of the police force. If she was indeed the culprit, she naturally wouldn't have left something so obvious as her fingerprints on the murder weapon."

"Hmm." The Judge said, his eyes closed in thought. "So that pistol is indeed what killed him?"

Edgeworth averted his eyes. He looked almost… embarrassed. "Unfortunately, there was a mistake in the crime lab." He glared at Gumshoe, who looked remarkably small for a man his size.

"I don't work in the lab, sir…" He mumbled.

The prosecutor continued as if he hadn't heard him. "Due to the error, tests are inconclusive as to whether the bullet that killed the victim came from the gun in his hand. _However_," He paused briefly to further emphasize the word. "No other weapon was found on the scene nor on Ms. Byrde's person. Furthermore, the gun was fired only once. As there was no evidence of another bullet anywhere in the apartment, logically the fatal shot did indeed come from the gun. I apologize that I am unable to provide the analysis of the rifling marks in this case."

"That is understandable." The Judge said sympathetically. "Everyone makes mistakes from time to time. Occasionally analyses are botched. However," He seemed to be taking cues from Edgeworth now. "This is a woman's life on the line. I must insist that you be more careful next time." His sudden stern comment was directed at the hapless detective on the stand.

"It wasn't me, sir…" Gumshoe tried to protest again, but he did so so meekly that Phoenix doubted the Judge even heard him.

Phoenix put his hand to his chin in thought. _(That does make a lot of sense. Even if we don't have explicit proof that the bullet came from the gun, it does sound like it couldn't have come from anywhere else.) _Even so, he decided the log the tidbit away. In a pinch, he might just have to use that to bluff in order to stay afloat.

The Judge slammed his gavel. "I believe we have heard all that we need to from this testimony. Witness, you may step down."

"Yes, sir." Gumshoe said, still rather meek as he shuffled away.

"Mr. Edgeworth, you may call your next witness."

"As you wish, Your Honor." He said. "The prosecution calls Marcia Teagan to the stand."

It wasn't long before a woman - in her late twenties, early thirties, probably - took the witness stand. The brunette wore a baggy sweatshirt and jeans, but her rounded face revealed the slight chubbiness she was attempting to hide. Phoenix wasn't entirely sure that was necessary. She still seemed pretty thin to him. Heck, he'd even call her attractive if she wasn't glowering like that.

"Name and occupation, please."

"Marcy Teagan." She said, her arms crossed. "I'm an accountant at Wyatt & Knope."

"The witness was the next door neighbor of the victim." Edgeworth explained. "She was the one who called the police."

"I see." The Judge said with a nod.

"Now, witness." Edgeworth began. "Could you please describe to the court what happened on the night of the murder?"

"I suppose." Marcy said, still looking rather annoyed by the whole thing. "Last night, around 11:30 or so, I was watching some TV. All of a sudden, there were some thuds in the other room. I figured the guy was moving something, so I didn't think much of it until I heard a loud bang a bit later. I called the police not long after that."

"Interesting…" The Judge said, looking confused. "You heard the thuds _before_ the gunshot?"

"Yeah." She said, playing with a strand of her hair. "It was weird."

Phoenix blinked in surprise. That story just corroborated his theory. Did Edgeworth plan all this out? That seemed like a remarkably risky thing to do. Edgeworth wouldn't help the defense in such an obvious way, would he? That would be liable to get them a mistrial. He glanced at Gumshoe, who had long since returned to his seat in the gallery. Or perhaps the police really were just that incompetent. Phoenix looked back to Edgeworth, but the man didn't give an inch beneath his calm mask.

"Hey Nick, doesn't this help us?" Maya whispered from his side.

"I'm not sure." Phoenix admitted. "On one hand, it does make my previous contradiction seem more likely, but it also suggests that the victim _was _shot in his own apartment when Maggey was supposedly the only one there. Besides, it doesn't definitively prove anything either way." The apparent lack of an eyewitness was making this whole case ride a lot more on hypotheticals. If they were still living in a country where the assumption was 'innocent until proven guilty,' that would have been a good thing for him. But now… (_I'm going to need to press her for more information.)_

The Judge stroked his chin, likely considering the same implication that the two had been. "Well then, Mr. Wright, I suppose now is a good time to begin the cross-examination." He slammed his gavel once again.

"Yes, Your Honor." Phoenix said with a nod. He quickly straightened up the papers on his desk while simultaneously collecting his thoughts. Then, he turned to Marcy. This testimony was short, simple, and yet strangely vague in a couple places. Those were as good of places as any to start. "Could you describe these 'thuds?'"

She shrugged. "What's there to describe? There were a couple of loud thumps next door."

Phoenix grit his teeth. "Yes, but could you go into some more detail than that?"

Marcy shrugged again. "I dunno. I guess like some things were getting thrown around?"

"And where were you when this happened?" Phoenix pressed.

"I was watching TV." She said, looking annoyed. "Where do you think?

Phoenix pressed his palms against the table as he tried to remain composed. Why did witnesses always have to be so uncooperative?

"The Prosecution would like to submit a layout of the apartments." Edgeworth interrupted. A bailiff quickly took his copies and handed them around. The two apartments had identical floor plans, with the living room/kitchen combo by the front door, and a bedroom on the left. It was kind of strange, actually. Normally apartment buildings had adjacent rooms with mirrored layouts. As it stood right now, Marcy's bedroom shared a wall with Spade's living room.

Phoenix looked surprised. "You… you were in the living room when you heard the thuds?" He would have assumed that if Marcy was in the living room and heard the struggle, that their living rooms would have been adjacent. Either the struggle was particularly loud, or…

"Yes." She said quickly. "I was watching TV in the living room."

"So… uh…" Phoenix needed another question. "What were you watching?"

She hesitated, before saying. "The Copper Sam-"

However, that was all Phoenix was able to make out, because right before she started talking, Edgeworth shouted "**OBJECTION! **Wright, how is that relevant?"

"I must agree with Mr. Edgeworth." The Judge said. "I will allow you to continue this line of questioning only if it is relevant to the case."

Phoenix shrugged. "I guess it's not…"

"It's _totally_ relevant!" Shouted a voice from Phoenix's side. He jumped a bit before turning to see Maya, her palms flat on the desk, and her eyes boring holes in the witness in her best imitation of Phoenix.

"Maya-!" Phoenix gasped. What did she think she was…

"Trust me, Nick." She said. "I really think this might be important."

The Judge glared down impatiently at the defense bench. "Well, Mr. Wright? Is this relevant or not?"

Phoenix looked at Maya, who stared back in determination and nodded. _(Well, here goes nothing…) _He nodded. "It is relevant, Your Honor."

"Very well." The Judge said. "Witness, please answer the question."

"I was watching the new episode of the Copper Samurai." She said, looking embarrassed. As she did so, Phoenix noticed Edgeworth get a confused look on his face on the other side of the room. He guessed it was because he was so perplexed at how that show got to be popular? Yeah, that had to be it.

"Aha! I thought so!" Maya whispered. "We've got her now, Nick!"

Phoenix looked at her in exasperation. "What are you talking about?" Did she really just make her answer the question so they could get her to admit to liking Maya's favorite show?

Maya sighed dramatically. "Come on, Nick! You should really know this by now. The Copper Samurai isn't on at 11:30!"

Phoenix blanched. "What?" It didn't seem all that important, but it _was _a contradiction… "**OBJECTION!**"

"What now?" Marcy said.

"Marcy Teagan." Phoenix began. "What show were you watching, again?"

"The Copper Samurai." She said, looking irritated. "What, you going to make a crack about it? Maybe you'd like to tell Janice I watch a kid's show? Oh, she'd _love _that. Look, it's got great writing and surprisingly deep characters okay? And another thing-" She reminded Phoenix of a younger Wendy Oldbag.

Phoenix wanted to end the rant as quickly as possible, so he continued. "And do you own a DVR device?"

She crossed her arms, looking embarrassed. "It broke recently." Phoenix grinned, and her eyes widened as she realized where this was going. "Wait-!"

"So let me get this straight." Phoenix said, pulling out the police report and gently slapping it with his hand. "You heard the thuds and the gunshots around 11:30, at which point you called the police?"

"Yes." She said nervously.

"And prior to hearing the struggle, you were watching the, and I quote 'new episode of the Copper Samurai?'"

"Well…" Marcy was starting to sweat.

"Furthermore, your DVR machine was broken."

"That's…"

Phoenix slammed his desk. "And yet, the Copper Samurai doesn't air at all on that time of day, let alone _new _episodes!"

A low murmur overtook the courtroom, as the gallery started to talk amongst itself. Half of the people were confused as to why this was important, but Phoenix thought he could hear a few people try to explain it to their neighbors. They didn't get far, however, as the Judge slammed his gavel loudly, silencing the chatter.

"Mr. Wright, I'm afraid I do not understand the importance of this line of questioning." He said, looking confused.

"It may seem unimportant, Your Honor," Phoenix said. Admittedly, it might still be, but it _was _a contradiction, and that suggested something. "But we just need to think about the implication. We know that the Copper Samurai does not air at this time at night." He glanced at Maya, who nodded. Phoenix really hoped she was right. After all, it might air on some satellite channel. He reassured himself that if anyone would know the broadcast schedule of a samurai show, it would be her. "Furthermore, the witness just admitted that her DVR was broken."

The Judge rubbed his chin. "Yes, but couldn't she have perhaps recorded it on one of those newfangled video tape machines to watch later?"

The room was so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

"Erm…" Edgeworth finally said. "Your Honor?"

"Yes?" The Judge asked, still looking pleased with himself.

"'DVR' is a common name for such machines." The prosecutor explained, clearly trying to let the Judge save as much face as possible.

"O-oh." The Judge said. Phoenix thought he noticed his cheeks turn red, but luckily for the Judge, they were mostly covered by his large beard. In any case, he loudly cleared his throat and slammed his gavel. "Well then, Mr. Wright, please don't leave us in the dark any longer."

_(I would have explained it by now if you hadn't interrupted…) _"Yes, Your Honor. As I was saying, the witness' DVR was broken. This could only mean one of two things. One, that Marcy was mistaken about the time - which wouldn't make sense, considering the record of her phone call - or two, that she was lying." He turned to her. "Now, witness. Could you please explain this little contradiction?"

"Fine, fine! I was streaming it on my computer! Are you happy now?" She snapped, glaring angrily at Phoenix.

"Streaming?" The Judge mouthed, but no one paid much heed.

"You do know that's illegal, right?" Phoenix asked.

"Why do you think I was lying about it?" Marcy replied. "And come on, everyone does it! It's not like I was uploading any shows, right?"

The Judge jumped back into the conversation, apparently having figured out what 'streaming' meant. "While it may be the case that most people do it, it does not change the law." He paused grimly. "That said, perjury is a much greater crime." She shrank away from his glare, entirely dropping her scowl for the first time. "However, that shall be dealt with at a later time. For now, this is the trial for Maggey Byrde. I will allow you to testify once more to correct your error, so please do not disappoint me."

"Yes sir." Marcy said meekly, before composing herself. Immediately upon breaking eye contact with the judge, her sour demeanor began to return. "To tell the truth, I was watching the Copper Samurai on my computer. But other than that, everything else I've said so far is true. At about 11:30 or so, I heard thuds in the room next to me, and a few minutes later, a loud bang, at which point I called the police."

"So what now, Nick?" Maya whispered.

"I have no idea." Phoenix said quietly. After all the work he had put into finding a mistake in that last testimony, it really hadn't helped. At this rate, he didn't know how long he could hold out.

"You may now begin the cross-examination, Mr. Wright."

Phoenix nodded. It didn't help that this testimony was ridiculously short. His only shot now would be to press the new information, but he felt like he might just be getting off base. Even so… "And is this a laptop?" He glanced at Edgeworth, who narrowed his tired eyes. The prosecutor was clearly in no mood for pointless questions. To his credit, he did not object.

She shook her head. "No, I sprang for a really nice desktop a couple of months ago." She grimaced. "After all, I couldn't let Janice outdo me, what with her giant monitor, HD webcam, noise canceling headphones, wireless mouse…"

"We get it." Phoenix groaned. He had to stop her fast, before she got on another rant. "So if this was your desktop, where exactly was it located?"

"My bedroom." Marcy said nonchalantly.

"A contradiction!" Maya whispered.

"Not really." Phoenix said, his mind having made the same jump as Maya's before settling down. "That just ties into her first lie that she was watching TV in the living room. Honestly, if she was in her bedroom, that would better explain how she was able to hear the struggle.

Unless…

_(…!)_

"**HOLD IT!**"

It was a long shot, but he had to ask.

"Did you say… noise canceling headphones?"

The entire room went silent as all eyes turned to the witness' stand. Well, except for Marcy's. Hers just good-old-fashioned widened. "…No?"

"WITNESS!" Phoenix yelled, slamming the table. Everyone jumped, Marcy most of all. "Have you forgotten about the discussion we _just _had about perjury?"

"Okay, okay!" Marcy quickly backpedaled. "I've got a high-end pair of noise-canceling headphones. But so what? That doesn't mean I was using them! I swear I felt the thuds-"

"Felt?"

"Heard! Heard the thuds!" Marcy was downright sweating now.

"Witness." Edgeworth said, glaring at her. Like Phoenix, he was clearly not in the mood for nonsense today. "You have been warned multiple times about perjury. If you were using noise-canceling headphones, it would be in your best interest to admit to it now."

"B-but, doesn't this help you?" Marcy asked, looking confused. Edgeworth just continued to glare. "Okay, fine." She said, her shoulders slumping. "I was using noise-canceling headphones." She quickly stood back up straight. "But I still felt the thuds through the wall! And I'm the one who called the police? Doesn't that count for something-?"

"Your Honor." Phoenix said, turning his attention away from the witness' stand. "Ms. Teagan here has clearly proven herself unreliable. Not only has she lied multiple times, but she has just admitted to having impaired hearing during the crime. Considering her testimony relies almost solely one what she _heard,_ the defense motions to have it stricken from the record."

"You can't do that!" Marcy shouted angrily. "I knew something was wrong enough to call the police didn't I?"

The Judge slammed his gavel. "Be that as it may, I must agree with Mr. Wright. If you could not hear, then your testimony is of little use. You may step down."

"But-!"

"You may step down." The Judge repeated, more firmly this time. Marcy looked like she was about to say something else, but thought better of it and slumped away.

Phoenix couldn't help but smile a bit. If this was the best testimony the prosecution had, freeing Maggey seemed like it could still be rather simple.

The Judge slammed his gavel to silence a general murmur that had started up when Marcy stepped down. "Well, that testimony was far from enlightening."

"Yes! At this rate, getting Maggey off the hook should be a snap!" Maya said with a grin.

"However," The Judge continued. "The defense has yet to prove anything to exonerate their client."

"H-huh?" Maya said, her smile vanishing.

The Judge didn't hear her. "There is still no evidence to suggest that anyone other than the defendant was in the victim's apartment at the time of the murder. Mr. Edgeworth, do you have any other witnesses?"

"Unfortunately not, Your Honor." Edgeworth said, looking far from pleased. "Mr. Spade's apartment was placed next to an elevator, and thus Ms. Teagan was his only close neighbor. No one else claims to have heard anything either.

The Judge looked grimly disappointed as well. "Very well. Although I hate to end the trial like this, I fear I have no other choice."

_(W-WHAT?!) _Phoenix's entire face lengthened as his jaw dropped and his eyes widened to the size of saucers. Minutes before they had been doing… _well_ wasn't the right word… but at least not horribly. There _had _to be a witness! There always was!

He could call Maggey… Yes, that sounded like his only hope. Phoenix still didn't know what was beneath those Psyche-Locks, but he'd have to take his chances.

But just as he was about to raise an objection, he heard a woman's voice at his side. It wasn't Maggey, nor was it Maya. No, it was another voice, one that he had heard many times in the past. He wasn't that surprised to hear it, even though he had resolved to stop relying on its owner. However, what he wasn't prepared for was the absolute confusion and even _fear _in her tone.

"W-where am I?! How did I get here?!" Mia Fey cried.

"Chief…?" Phoenix said, unable to comprehend her actions. He hesitantly reached an arm out towards her…

Mia spun on him, her eyes wild and fearful. "Don't touch me! Who _are_ you?!"

"Chief, it's me… it's Phoenix." He said as calmly as possible. He'd never seen Mia like this before. Sure, he'd seen her nervous in the past, even afraid, but never like this. Even then, she always remained moderately rational. Not so now. Mia was breathing heavily and her eyes were shooting all around the courtroom. The courtroom. _(Oh jeez…) _He quickly glanced around as well. Maggey looked incredibly confused from the defendant's chair, but it was nothing compared to Edgeworth, who looked positively aghast. However, Phoenix wasn't able to take in anything else before the Judge furiously slammed his gavel.

"Order! Order!" The Judge bellowed. "Mr. Wright! I demand that you control your assistant!"

"Assistant?" Mia said, her voice high and confused.

_(I'm trying, Your Honor! Really!) _"Uh… the defense requests a brief recess!" Phoenix said quickly. Mia hadn't run out of the courtroom yet, but he wouldn't put it past her in her current state. He needed to talk to her and calm her down before she did something rash.

The Judge glared down at Phoenix. "If this is an attempt to stall the trial…"

"It's not! I promise!" Phoenix said quickly. "Please, Your Honor."

The Judge looked at Edgeworth, who had managed to reign in his baffled expression. "The Prosecution has no objections to that, Your Honor."

"Very well." The Judge said with a nod. "The trial shall resume in fifteen minutes." He then turned to Phoenix. "I trust that is enough time for the defense to calm themselves down?" He said sternly.

Phoenix nodded. "Yes, Your Honor." _(Or at least, I sure hope so…)_

"Court is adjourned." The Judge said with a final slam of his gavel.

* * *

_(I wish this site had better journal features so I could post this there instead of muddling up the bottom of my stories. Oh well.)  
_

_Hey guys. I'm back. Hmm... it's difficult to convey sheepishness through text. Well, I'm not here to make excuses. That wait was far too long, and I cannot justify it. However, I will explain the basics of my situation so you can understand the delay was probably inevitable (not _that _long of a delay, but a delay, at least). And before you start throwing things at your computer screen, I believe I can offer at least _some _consolation. _

_I could just say that writing mysteries is tough, but that's not really fair. That might make a month's wait okay. Or that might make waiting this long for a completed fic okay. But it does not make waiting a year for a few new chapters okay (Yes, I said a few. Read on.) Put simply, I was worried about contradicting myself in the trial, so I resolved to write out the entire first day in court, and everything that happens before it ends before posting anything. It still took far longer than it should have, but it does mean I can release weekly chapters for at least the next two weeks, which should also give me a head start in writing more. It's not quite all edited, so I can't just post it now, but I feel this is better anyways.  
_

_Of course, I understand that this is treading dangerously close to dead fic territory, and while I know that yells of "WAIT WAIT GUYS THIS IS STILL GOING ON!" is the common death scream of many fanfics, I am going to do all in my power to avoid it. At this point I've invested quite a lot of time in plotting this mystery, and I plan to see it to the end. Hopefully I've still got readers at this point. Expect the next chapter seven days from now!  
_

___EDIT: Oh my... this is embarrassing. I had this chapter written ages ago and was using a placeholder name for the witness, until right before posting, I thought of a name pun I rather liked and posted it without thinking too much. Unfortunately, I just realized that she shared a first name with Maya's mother. So... yeah. That wasn't a clue or anything, It was a genuine mistake. Misty Teagan has absolutely nothing to do with Misty Fey. Certain names will be important in this story, but I assure you hers isn't one of them. Her name has now been changed to Marcy. So... yeah. Sorry about that._


	8. Mel

Lynne cautiously approached the shabby motel door. Its red paint was faded and flaking off and the brass numbers on the front were long since gone. If it weren't for the more pronounced fading of the paint from where they once hung, it would have been impossible to determine what the room's number was. She drew her pistol and slid to the side of the door. Room 215. This was the place. Raising a single fist, she paused for just a moment before pounding on the door. "Police! Open up!"

Back when she was just an officer, she'd been involved with such busts before. However, she was a detective now and that sometimes meant investigating leads on her own. Inspector Cabanela had told her to wait for backup, but there wasn't time. If she was right, then the missing person she'd been searching for was in this motel room. If she was lucky, the kidnapper wouldn't be around. If not, then she needed to get in there before the missing person's case became something else entirely. Either way, she needed to get through that door. Besides, she was known for having remarkably good luck. It was doubtful-

**BANG!**

Lynne didn't even have time to finish the thought before the motel door exploded and sent splintered wood flying everywhere. Lynne immediately jumped and rolled across the doorframe just before another loud bang knocked it off its hinges. That was powerful blast, probably from a shotgun. Her roll had been a risky move, but she needed a better vantage point. She peaked her head in through the window she had jumped beneath. The curtains were drawn, but there was a slight gap that she could see through. The motel room was dark, but she could make out the build of a stocky man with a shotgun. That was her suspect all right.

"Stay the hell away from me!" The man yelled from inside. "If you don't, I… I'll kill the girl!"

Lynne grit her teeth. This was just like in the park all those years ago. What was she _thinking_? The man was unstable and he had a hostage and she doubted there would be a random _meteorite _to cause a distraction this time.

But then again, something a lot simpler would do. All of a sudden, she could hear the phone ring from inside the motel room. The man let out a shout and she heard him fire his shotgun. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lynne leapt around the doorway at fired her gun at him. She got his leg. The man let out another shout, this one in pain, and collapsed onto one knee. His shotgun was pointed away from Lynne. From this range, she could easily take him down before he could swing it to face her. "Drop your weapon!" Lynne shouted.

"No, you drop _yours!_" He snarled. Lynne followed the path of the shotgun and realized he was pointing it straight at his hostage: a ten year old redheaded girl. Lynne began to sweat. Logically, she knew it would be extremely dangerous to let go of her gun. If she did, both the girl and herself were liable to be killed. But that little girl looked so much like she had all those years ago…

Randomly, the room's television turned on. Both Lynne and the man jumped, but he recovered first. Time seemed to slow down as he swung his shotgun towards her. Lynne pulled the trigger, but she saw the muzzle of his weapon flash simultaneously. The man jerked as Lynne felt a horrible pain in her abdomen.

_(I've been shot…)_ She dimly realized as she fell backwards.

Hell of a way to end her first case as detective.

* * *

"_You just can't help but get killed, can you?" _Said a voice. Lynne blinked. Where had she heard it before?

She opened her eyes and found herself in a red void. In front of her stood, of all things, Detective Jowd's pet cat. _"…Sissel?"_

"_So you remember me, huh?" _The cat asked, his yellow eyes staring at her with an intelligence that had always baffled her.

"_Well, yeah." _She replied. _"I mean, that bandanna, the fact that you're ten years old but still look like a kitten, not to mention how well you get along with Missile… You're a pretty memorable cat." _She knew she should have been dumbfounded by whatever was happening, but she couldn't help but feel like it was very familiar.

Strangely, she thought she could feel some sort of sadness emanating from Sissel. _"I see. I didn't think you remembered me, especially since you didn't have a core, but I guess I was hoping maybe you still did."_

Core? What was Sissel talking about?

"_I really did try to help you." _Sissel continued. _"But there was only so much I could do by the time I arrived. You should have waited for backup." _He paused briefly, as if waiting for Lynne to say something. When she didn't respond, he said,_ "Well, I guess we'd better get to work."_

Things were beginning to become clear. Lynne had died, hadn't she? But… why did it feel like this wasn't the first time? In fact, she could feel as if she was forgetting something extremely important. Something just beneath the surface…

She didn't have time to think about it further, however, as the next instant she was once again looking at the door to the motel room, sans shotgun damage. There was no one around, and that meant _no _one. Despite not physically being there, Lynne found herself able to examine the immediate area as if she was. She figured this should be odd and disorienting, but it didn't really bother her. Over the railing and in the distance, she saw herself hurriedly approaching the motel. _"Huh… it took me four whole minutes to get from there to here?" _

Strange, where had she gotten four minutes from? They were obviously in the past, but Sissel had never mentioned a specific time frame.

The cat's ear twitched, and he looked at her with an intrigued expression. _"Well, there's also the dying part." _Sissel replied.

They were both silent for a few brief moments, but Sissel didn't waste any more time than that. He possessed the exterior doorknob before jumping to the interior one. Lynne found herself pulled alongside her spiritual savior, and thus ended up in the motel room as well. Although she quickly realized it wouldn't have made a difference, she still stifled an angry yell at the sight of the small girl tied to a cheap wooden chair.

"_You know, you should be proud." _Sissel said. _"That shot of yours managed to incapacitate the man over there long enough for the others to arrive."_

"_So I managed to save her." _Lynne said with a sigh of relief. _"Well, I suppose there are worse things to die for."_

"_Yeah." _Sissel said absentmindedly. _"But let's see if we can make it so that's not necessary."_

* * *

As Sissel set about his work, Lynne couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity. Why wasn't she more confused about everything? She was _dead_ for crying out loud! She really should be worried, or scared, or disoriented, or _something_. But she wasn't. She watched nonplussed as Sissel's soul leapt around the room, setting in motion the chain of events that would save her life. As he did so, a thought occurred to her. Objects had moved on their own that day in Temsik park, hadn't they? Not only that, but that was the day she and Detective Jowd found Sissel.

"_Did you use your powers at Temsik park?"_ She asked.

Sissel paused from loosening the metal rod holding up the curtains Lynne had peaked through before. _"Yeah, I did."_

"_So then… did the meteorite kill me back then, too?"_

"_No, it didn't, actually." _Sissel said, sounding almost amused. About what, Lynne had no idea. _"It killed Yomiel… The man in red."_

That was odd. Lynne might have expected herself to be angry, but she wasn't. Sissel had saved a life. A life that, according to Detective Jowd, had been innocent all along. She wasn't sure how 'innocent' someone could be to take a girl hostage, but she'd seen perps panic like that before. Perhaps he had just gotten caught up in the moment.

"_Let's give this a try." _Sissel said. He detached the curtains, which fell to the dirty motel carpet. The kidnapper jumped nervously and made to fix them. But Sissel was already making the phone ring on the other side of the room. The kidnapper looked from the curtains to the phone indecisively for a moment, but then he swore and made for the phone.

"Yeah, what?!" He growled into the receiver. Of course, no one was there. Lynne, the living one, meanwhile walked past the now bare window. Her eyes widened as she spotted the kidnapper and the girl. Lynne's ghost smirked. Of course. Now she was free to-

Her thoughts were interrupted as, well, Lynne herself kicked down the door. The perp still had his back to the door and the window, so he had been completely unaware. Furthermore, he was now on the other side of the room from his hostage.

"Freeze!" Past-Lynne shouted. "Drop your weapon!" The kidnapper complied.

"_Man, I am so cool." _Lynne said.

"_Modest too." _Sissel added, his voice deadpan.

At that moment, Lynne began to feel a tug on her soul. Her fate had been averted. She was going back to the future. Lynne didn't fight it. She let herself fly through the red tunnel of time.

And then her mind exploded.

A junkyard. She remembered a junkyard. And a submarine. She remembered getting shot. She remembered drowning, and a Rube Goldberg contraption of death. Kamila. That young girl she barely knew had essentially become her foster daughter. The man in red, Yomiel, no… Sissel… no, both of them had been with her in that junkyard.

It was almost too much to bear. Ten years of memories flooded her brain. Ten years that no longer happened.

She understood now.

* * *

Lynne woke. Above her were unfamiliar wooden rafters, barely visible in the dark. She nearly panicked for a moment, before she remembered where she was. She was in the guest room at Fey Manor.

She smiled softly. That day she regained a friend she never knew she had lost. She wondered what he was doing now. He was probably training that new spirit he found. That made her happy. Sissel never said anything, but he had to get lonely sometimes, especially at night. Things had to be bad enough in the day. After all, only a select few people could a even hear him. A select few people that could only grow if someone was killed. And since he couldn't sleep, nights had to be really difficult. Lynne knew that cats weren't known for their sociability, but even so, she was happy that Sissel had found a student, and maybe even a friend.

* * *

"_Give it a try." _Sissel and the new spirit were possessing small stones on either side of the kitten's lifeless body.

"_But… I thought you said each ghost got different powers…"_

"_Each ghost _starts _with different Ghost Tricks," _Sissel explained._ "but I've met a ghost in the past who could do everything the two of us can and more. He could possess inanimate objects _and _living beings, and he could even levitate multiple things at once." _

"_So does that mean you can do more too?"_

Sissel paused for a moment. _"Well… no._ _Not really. I mean, I can control my own body, but other than that, I'm still limited to objects, like you."_

The spirit seemed confused. _"But… then why do you think I'll be able to do this?"_

"_I'm not sure." _Sissel admitted. _"Honestly, I'm just guessing here. My body's a bit of a special case. Since _I'm _able to control it when I'm normally stuck with objects, I thought it might work for you too."_

"_Huh. And here I thought you were some sort of wise spirit mentor." _His companion said sarcastically.

_(Gah… this teaching stuff is hard. How did Missile deal with all of this?) _How could a _dog _of all creatures be a better mentor than he was? Even though Sissel considered Missile one of his closest friends, the fact remained that he, and the majority of his species, were rather simpleminded._ "Just give it a try."_

"_If you say so." _The other spirit said, reaching a ghostly tendril out towards the core in Sissel's body. Once the tendril connected with the core, the spirit released the stone and fully possessed it.

"_Good." _Sissel said. _"Now try to move. "Start small, like one of my paws, for instance."_

"_I'm trying." _The spirit said, annoyed. _"Nothing's happening."_

"_Shoot." _Sissel wasn't surprised, but he was a little disappointed. He had long since explained everything he knew about Ghost Tricks to his new companion, but they were still far from daylight, let alone Lynne actually waking up. Now, they were just stuck experimenting with their abilities. He had hoped to create some sort of obstacle course for his 'student,' but it was difficult to create a challenge for someone able to _fly._

"_So… what now, Sissel?"_

"_I have no idea… uh… you." _It was getting a little difficult to speak to this other spirit without knowing anything about their identity. Lynne had once told him that certain languages had gender-neutral pronouns. Those would probably be nice right around now.

The spirit seemed to have a similar train of thought. _"We should figure out something to call me. Like… a code-name or something."_

"_Code-name?"_

"_Yeah, you know. Some sort of name to make things easier."_

"_Like…" _Sissel thought for a moment. What could he call this flickering blue flame in front of him? He didn't even know their gender. What would Lynne say? She loved coming up with names for things. _"Flamey?"_

Flamey was taken aback. _"What? No! That's… well that's not very good."_

"_D__o you have any better ideas?"_

The spirit thought for a moment. _"How about… Mel?"_

"_Mel?"_

'Mel' shook a little, as if nodding. _"I don't know why, but it sounds… right."_

"_As in Melville or something?" _He supposed that meant the spirit was male.

"_I guess." _Mel said. _"I don't even know why it sounds good to me, but it just does."_

Sissel would have shrugged if he had the capacity to. _"Okay then, Mel." _

"_So what now?" _Mel asked.

Once again, Sissel would have shrugged. They still had hours to go before morning. _"What else to do besides practice?"_

* * *

"_Here's the plan." _Sissel said, standing atop an incinerator in the corner of a garden located next to what Pearl had called 'Winding Way.' Fey Manor was so huge that it had a whole guest wing separate from the main house that was connected by an outdoor path of wooden beams. _"We're going to race. First one to complete three laps around this garden wins."_

"_Seems easy enough." _Mel said, possessing a stone and causing it to levitate into the air.

"_Hold on." _Sissel said. _"No flying."_

"_Huh? Why?" _Mel sounded disappointed.

"_I think we both know you're pretty good at levitation already." _The cat explained. _"But the idea is to creatively find paths using possession. Plus…" _His tail flicked the air. _"Your powers are pretty obvious. There might be a time when you need to help someone by remaining unnoticed." _For a split second, Sissel flashed back to the junkyard super's office. _(I know I have…)_

"_So… I'm not allowed to move anything at all, then?"_

Sissel shook his head. "_I'll let you move things, but only in ways they might move normally. Okay?"_

Like Sissel, Mel probably would have shrugged if he had been able. _"Fair enough."_

Sissel possessed another stone near Mel's. _"Alright then. Ready? Go!"_

If anyone had been watching, they would never guess that there was a race going on. The garden remained largely unchanged, save for the occasional rock rolling down an incline or piece of bamboo breaking in half. Ability wise, Mel had the advantage. While Sissel's powers provided a slightly more efficient way to manipulate objects, Mel's could use his levitation creatively to give the rocks a little nudge down the hill. Sissel, meanwhile, was largely stuck just jumping from object to object. But that suited him fine. Mel had the ability, but he had the experience. Sissel was a far better at finding paths, and this provided an interesting challenge.

Everything was going rather well until Sissel made to possess an urn that was sitting in a corner of the winding way. It had looked ordinary enough at first glance: It was violet with pink specs and had some word written on the front. The was hole in the top about the size of Sissel's head, and there was a large brown lid pressed inside it. But when he possessed the urn, Sissel's enjoyment of their little race ended.

Everything went black. It felt like every one of Sissel's senses just shut down. He couldn't see anything, he couldn't feel anything, and he couldn't hear anything. Sissel didn't know what was going on, but he couldn't imagine a worse situation. At least, until he heard the rattling of chains.

_(No…)_

Those familiar, horrible chains flew into his vision. If they had been anything else, Sissel might have been relieved at his ability to see something. As things stood, however, he was gripped by terror. He cast his spiritual gaze out, in an attempt to find something, _anything_ else he could possess, but he found himself unable to see outside of the urn.

Sissel braced himself to be wrapped in the chains and to once again face down Ami Fey when suddenly a hole appeared at the top of the blackness. The light of the moon shined through, which, compared to the blackness everywhere else, was almost blinding.

Sissel didn't even think about it. He reached out through the gap and possessed the only thing in reach: a nearby hanging scroll.

"_Sissel! Are you all right?" _Shouted Mel. He was possessing the lid to the urn, which was now floating above the gap the feline's spriit had just shot through. Once he was out, he lowed the lid and then possessed a stone in the garden.

"_I…I don't know." _Sissel said, trying to get his bearings. If he'd had a heart rate, he was sure it would have been pumping incredibly fast. Of course, Sissel hadn't had a heart rate in over ten years. _"I just went inside that urn, and suddenly I couldn't get out."_

"_So what, is that urn some sort of spirit holder?" _Mel asked.

"_Maybe." _Sissel said thoughtfully as his racing mind started to slow down. There wasn't any radiation coming from the urn like Phoenix Wright's Magatama, but possessing it had giving him a very similar experience. What did that mean? If the urn wasn't imbued with the power of the Fey Clan, could it do anything other than hold spirits?

Actually… that was probably exactly what it was for. Sissel didn't know why the Feys would need a way to keep spirits captive, but he didn't like it one bit. Of course, he didn't see anyone else in there… Even so, he'd definitely have to steer clear of the urn from now on.

Suddenly, Mel spoke. _"…Ami?"_

"_Ami?" _Sissel gasped, turning his attention to his companion. _(How would Mel know about her?)_

"_It says that right on the urn."_

"_Oh." _One of these days, Sissel should see if it would be possible for a cat to learn to read. _"I didn't notice."_

Neither spoke for a moment. Then,_"So who's Ami anyway?" _Mel asked. _"Sister Bikini mentioned her too."_

"_She founded the Kurain Channelling Technique." _Sissel said absentmindedly. He was still trying to figure out what this urn was supposed to be for. _"I think she had Ghost Tricks too."_

"_Then maybe this urn is for her ashes." _Sissel's companion suggested.

The explanation lost Sissel. "_Uh… what?" _Most people didn't find ash all that valuable. Why would Ami Fey place it in an urn like it was some sort of treasure?

"_You know… her _ashes._" _Mel said.

"_I still don't get it." _

"_Like, after she died. They cremated her and put her ashes in that urn." _

"_Cre… what-ed?"_

Mel was starting to get exasperated. "_You know, burned her body!"_

"_Humans _do _that?!" _

So then… Ami Fey was in that urn? A chill went up Sissel's nonexistent spine. His first encounter with Ami Fey was like nothing he had ever experienced before, and he had no desire to repeat the process.

But that begged the question, _why_? Why did the Feys lock Ami in an urn? Was she dangerous? Sissel would certainly believe it if that was the case. Or, did the Feys have an ulterior motive? He'd have to ask Pearl about it tomorrow. Either way, he wasn't in the mood for any more training. "I think we're done for the night."

Mel could almost certainly sense that Sissel was still uncomfortable about what had just happened, but, to his credit, he didn't say anything more about it.

* * *

"_Hey Sissel?"_

"_Yeah, Mel?"_

"_Why are you being so nice to me?" _

Sissel blinked in surprise. He was back in his body and Mel was in a stone. The two of them were next to each other in the bamboo garden gazing up at the sky. The moon was nearly full and bathed the two of them in blue light. _"What do you mean?" _

"_I mean, you're taking all this time to teach me things and talk to me and everything. It's… nice."_

The cat thought for a moment before responding. _"I was in your situation once, long ago. I was alone and I didn't know anything about myself and the world was so… _so _dark. But there was this ghost. This… well… this 'Ray' of light. __He taught me how to use my powers. He gave me the push I needed. He helped me save the people I came to care about. Without him, I would have been lost." _He paused, before adding. _"And I really mean that. I know for a fact things would have turned out much differently without his help._"

"…_Is that why you called yourself 'Ray' when we first met?"_

Sissel scratched his ear with one of his paws. _"That was a bit of an idle thought… but yeah."_

Neither of them said anything for a time. They both just stared contentedly up at the moon until Mel finally broke the silence. _"Thanks."_

"_Hey, no problem." _Sissel said with a purr.

"_No, I mean it." _Mel continued. _"I… I don't think I had many friends before this."_

Sissel turned to look at the stone. _"What makes you say that?"_

"_I don't really know." _Mel said slowly. _"Just… just a feeling I had."_

Sissel blinked once again, but this time more slowly - his approximation of a smile. He'd tried smiling for humans in the past, but it always looked more aggressive than friendly. _"Well, you've got a friend now."_

But Mel wasn't satisfied. Not yet. "_But I had something to do with a murder! I remember it. What if I killed someone? What if…?" _He was starting to get hysterical

"_Hey." _Sissel said, snapping Mel out of his thoughts. _"One of my best friends once hurt a lot of people. He hurt _me. _But it's because he was like I had been. He was trapped in the dark. He didn't have a 'Ray' to help him."_

"_But-!"_

"_We'll unravel your past together, and we'll figure out what do to from there. I don't care if you were the killer or the victim or someone else entirely." _He said sternly._ "No matter what happened in your past, I'm your friend now and that's all there is to it."_

There was another long silence before finally, quietly, Mel said, "_Thank you."_

* * *

"Identification, please."

"Identification? Do you see my badge?" Lynne said, indignantly waving the lapel of her trench coat at the guard.

"Ma'am, that's not a real badge."

"_It's _plastic_." _Sissel added.

Questioning Pearl that morning had been rather fruitless. She had confirmed Mel's suspicions that the urn (or, as she called it, the "Sacred Urn") housed Ami's ashes and, supposedly, her spirit. Other than that, though, she couldn't provide them with much information. She said the spirit in the urn is what gave them their spiritual powers, but Sissel knew that wasn't true. It was the Kurain Boulder, and being born in its presence, that gave them their abilities. Furthermore, Lynne pointed out that the urn looked like it had been broken and glued back together, meaning Ami's spirit was probably long gone. Pearl had been strangely silent on that matter.

Sissel wasn't surprised by the lack of information. Honestly, he would have been more surprised if Pearl _had _known something. The Fey clan's history had clearly been skewed by superstition, so there was no way to be certain if even _they _knew the reasoning behind the urn. Furthermore, even if some higher ups did, why would they tell a little girl? His best bet would probably be to ask the current Master.

So here they were, back in the city, with Mel possessing the badge Lynne was flashing and Sissel in his own body on the ground. Of course, Maya and Phoenix would be in their trial right about now, but they still had one more avenue to investigate.

"Tch. Fine." Lynne said, reaching into her pocket and displaying her actual badge. "Name's Lynne. _Detective _Lynne."

The guard, a clean-cut young man with a black cap on his head, glanced at the badge and then raised an eyebrow. "You're way out of your jurisdiction."

"Oh, come on." Lynne said, starting to get annoyed. "It's visitor's hours right? I want to visit them."

The guard didn't move. "Then go talk to the front desk."

"I _tried _that." Lynne said, her hands on her hips. "They said something stupid about refusing visitors."

"That's their right." He replied. "Unless you're police, the prisoners don't have to meet with you."

"But I _am_ police! I'm investigating!"

"This isn't your jurisdiction." He repeated, clearly getting exasperated by the strange woman pestering him. "Look, take it up with the police chief, not me."

Lynne's demeanor instantly changed. "Aw, come on." She said with a big smile as she leaned in close to him. "For _me?_" She must have had something in her eyes, because Sissel saw her flutter her eyelashes.

The guard looked at her like she was insane. "Get moving, or I'll report you."

"Fine, fine." Lynne grumbled, putting her hands in the pockets of her large coat and shuffling away. "So much for interrogating Jeego or Tengo." Sissel followed her. Honestly, he was surprised he was allowed to walk freely throughout the Detention Center lobby. But then again, judging from some of the colorful prisoners he saw being transferred around, a pet cat wasn't all that out of the ordinary.

"_What was that supposed to be?" _Mel asked.

"Feminine wiles?" Lynne said hopefully.

Sissel meanwhile was staring at a small blue stuffed animal on a nearby shelf. On its head were three appendages ending in bells, almost like a jester's hat. _"I think the better question is, what is _that _supposed to be?"_ He'd heard of police departments having mascots before, but this thing was ridiculous.

"…_The Blue Badger." _Mel said.

Both Lynne and Sissel did a double take in the direction of her badge. _"How did you…?"_

"_I don't know." _Mel admitted. _"It just came to me, and…"_

But before they could pursue that line of thought any further, both Sissel and Lynne froze. Approaching them from the direction of the front desk was a black suited man and a similarly dressed woman. The man was short and slimy looking, a large flap of hair coming from underneath a misshapen fedora and covering one eye. Even so, his goofy smile and the red rose on his lapel made him look far more approachable than his companion. The woman, meanwhile, looked like she could suck the warmth right out of a room. She too was in a black suit, but her most distinctive feature was certainly the seemingly-impossible spiral of blonde hair coming from her head. They both had visitor's badges pinned to their jackets. Sissel's eyes widened. He knew these two better than he would like to admit. The woman glanced cooly in their direction, but just for a second. Then, she aimed her focus ahead. Sissel froze, before realizing that they'd never met in this new timeline. Not only that, but he was pretty sure they wouldn't recognize Lynne or a cat anyway. The couple passed right by them and approached the guard. He opened his mouth to say something, but they flashed their badges and he let them through.

Lynne was the first to say something. "Were those some of Sith's people?"

"_Yeah." _Sissel replied. _"The short man calls her Beauty. I don't know his name. They were the ones who kidnapped Kamila."_

Lynne's mouth became an angry line. Sissel was almost surprised. Sure, Lynne sometimes got angry about things, but it was always a loud anger. Now, she was _seething_. Not that he could really blame her. "You two need to follow them."

"_Huh?" _Mel asked.

"_I agree." _Sissel said. _"Take care of my body. Come on, Mel. I'll explain everything later. What's important right now is that we find out what these two are up to."_

And what were they up to? Naturally something to do with Jeego and Tengo. Were they going to break them out? Probably not right now… it was broad daylight. Even so, they'd likely figure something out just by listening in to their conversations.

The two ghosts jumped across the detention center, occasionally hitching a ride on the belt of a patrolling guard. Finally, they made their way to the questioning rooms. However, it was still slow going. By the time they made it to the visitors rooms, they noticed through the panes of glass on the doors that the two foreigners had split up to visit both Jeego and Tengo simultaneously. _"I guess that means we're gonna have to split up too." _Sissel said.

"_But I don't even know what's going on!" _Mel argued.

Sissel couldn't really blame him for protesting, but there really wasn't time to explain. _"Just remember what you can." _He said quickly. "_I'll keep an eye on the woman. She's the brains of the operation anyway. You follow the man, okay?"_

Mel hesitated for a moment, before finally answering. _"Okay."_

With that, Sissel passed through the door, just in time to see a guard escort Tengo into the room and sit him down at a table. Sissel had seen rooms like this at Jowd's station. The table in the center of the room was split by a large wall and pane of glass, with a seat on both sides. There were speakers on the wall so the prisoner and their visitor could communicate. After dropping off Tengo, his escort exited the room, leaving him in the care of a man by the door. A man who appeared to be snoring.

_(I guess this police force has some strange people too.) _Sissel had once enjoyed napping, back when he was able to. But even so, he knew that this wasn't the time for that sort of thing.

"Didn't think I'd be getting a visit from such a 'Beauty.'" Tengo said with a smirk. If looks could kill, and do so through a pane of bulletproof glass, Sissel might just have had to use his powers to save one of Sith's men.

"You're still alive." Beauty said icily. Most men would have shrunk back when faced with her cold accusing stare, but to his credit, Tengo's grin only shrank a few centimeters.

"Sorry, babe." Tengo said, his arms crossed casually in front of his chest. "They must have taken my cyanide capsule while I was unconscious."

Cyanide? _(What's that?)_

"Right." She said, not breaking her gaze. From her tone, it was apparent she didn't believe him. "Commander Sith is… displeased."

"Now look." Tengo said, his demeanor faltering for the first time. He leaned forward, placing a palm on the table between them. "I have no idea what happened that night, but it certainly wasn't my fault. Jeego must have fastened his connectors badly. Either that, or we had faulty equipment."

Sissel couldn't be sure, but it looked like Beauty's eyebrow raised ever so slightly. "So much for being 'One-Step-Ahead.'"

"Humph." Tengo said, crossing his arms again.

"If either of you talks…" She began cooly.

"You don't have to worry about us… well, _me_ at least." Tengo said, his smirk returning.

"I wasn't finished." Beauty said sternly.

"Then by all means, please continue." Tengo said with a little sarcastic bow.

The woman leaned in, her face now inches from the glass. "If either of you talks, you will both be held _equally_ responsible."

Tengo's smile vanished again, replaced this time by an almost-nervous grimace. "We won't talk. I guarantee it."

"Your 'guarantees' have been notoriously useless as of late."

The assassin grit his teeth, but then managed to adopt a far more neutral expression. "Like I said, don't worry. I'm not even taking visitors besides you guys. As for the job, I told you it had nothing to do with me. And besides, as much as I believe Commander Sith, I'm not big on killing myself on the off-chance he's _wrong. _I'm sure you feel the same."

Without a word, Beauty got to her feet.

"What, leaving already?" Tengo actually seemed mildly surprised. "Don't you need to know where-?"

"The object you 'acquired' is no longer necessary." She replied curtly. "And watch your tongue. There are eyes and ears everywhere."

"You mean that guy?" Tengo said, nodding in the direction of the guard by his door. "He's been asleep this whole time. I doubt he'll be telling anyone anything."

"I wasn't talking about him." Beauty said, and then she turned her head, leveling her eyes directly at Sissel's hiding spot.

Everything slowed down. Of course. How could Sissel have forgotten about _that?_

"I don't know what you think you're doing in here, ghost, but if I sense you _ever_ again, death will be the least of your worries." Sissel didn't think it was possible, but Beauty had somehow gotten scarier. Her eyes were cold and cruel, and more than willing to make good on her threat. "Understand?"

Even though she couldn't see him (at least, he didn't _think_ she could see him), Sissel nodded. Suddenly, Tengo's casual, defiant stance was a lot more impressive.

Without waiting for a reply, Beauty turned on her heel and made for the exit. Right before leaving, she turned and looked one last time at Tengo. "Take my words to heart if you wish to keep that life you hold so precious." And with that, she opened the door and was gone.

* * *

_So... for those of you who read chapter seven when I first posted it, I realized I made a rather crucial mistake. ____I had that chapter written for ages and was using a placeholder name for the witness, until right before posting, I thought of a name pun I rather liked and posted it without thinking too much. All was well and good until I realized she shared a first name with Maya's mother. I really shouldn't make any last minute changes like that. That wasn't a clue or anything, It was a genuine mistake. Misty Teagan has absolutely nothing to do with Misty Fey. Her name has now been changed to Marcy.  
_

_____Anyways, that's what Sissel and company have been up to, since the entire last chapter was Phoenix and Maya. Don't worry, in a week you'll be getting more of the trial, and you can get some info on the deal with Mia (plus I love watching you squirm, mwahaha). For now, I think this was a nice change of pace from all that talking and court procedure. I also finally got to address Lynne's memories. The game was always vague about whether she remembered things. Naturally, she needed to remember for this story, but her lack of a core at the end of the game implies she lost them. Plus, her final statement to Sissel was rather ambiguous. So here I struck what I feel is a nice balance. Disagree? Then ignore it I guess. Either way, she's got her memories now.  
_


	9. State v Byrde: Trial Latter

"So… I'm dead." Mia said. She was sitting on the leather couch in the defendant lobby and holding her head between her hands. Maggey sat next to her, awkwardly placing a hand on her shoulder. Phoenix had managed to calm Mia down a bit, but there was little he could do to relieve her confusion. "I'm not surprised, considering how I was before I suddenly appeared here." She paused for a moment. "How _did_ I get here?" She looked up at Phoenix, confused and concerned. The expression looked so wrong on her. This was Mia Fey, the most intelligent and rational attorney he'd ever met, save for maybe Edgeworth.

Speaking of Edgeworth…

"Wright!" The prosecutor shouted, bursting through the Defendant Lobby's double doors. "What the devil is going on?" Mia gave a startled shout and jumped to her feet.

"Gee, thanks Edgeworth." Phoenix said, jumping to his feet as well and gently putting his hands on Mia's shoulders. "Just when I managed to calm her down."

Edgeworth grimaced in embarrassment. "Perhaps I should have entered with a bit more tact."

"You think?" Phoenix asked with an eye roll.

"What the heck was that, pal?!" Detective Gumshoe yelled as he too burst through the doors. Phoenix felt Mia flinch in his arms. "How is stalling for a few minutes gonna…" However, his yell quickly died out and became a whimper, as was the usual reaction of anyone on the receiving end of one of Mile's Edgeworth's glares.

"Detective… a word?" The prosecutor said advancing on the unfortunate detective. He turned back to Phoenix for a moment. "I will still be expecting an explanation later."

"Sure." Phoenix said with a nod. _(I'll let you know as soon as I actually have one…)_

"It appears you need a lesson in courthouse protocol…" The prosecutor began, as he led Gumshoe out of the lobby. "Perhaps your paycheck is too large."

"But sir…" Came Gumshoe's forlorn reply before the doors closed and cut off their conversation.

"Poor Detective Gumshoe…" Maggey murmured.

Phoenix would have been inclined to agree, but he had work to do and precious little time to do it. He turned back to Mia. "You okay?"

"I… I think so." Mia said slowly. "I don't mean to be so jumpy. It's just… I'm dead and I can't remember anything and I don't know where I am or how I got here-" She her voice started to rise in pitch and tempo.

"We're at a courthouse. I'm a lawyer and my assistant, your sister, is a spirit medium." Phoenix explained quickly, hoping to diffuse the situation before Mia started panicking again. He couldn't really blame her, given what little he knew. "I guess she thought I needed some help so she called your soul. You're possessing her body right now."

That made Mia look incredibly uncomfortable. "So then this isn't the real me?" She sighed, and sat back down next to Maggey. "When I first realized I had a real body again, I was hoping everything else that happened to me had been some sort of dream." She laughed quietly, but there was no joy to it. "I guess that's not the case, huh?"

"No." Phoenix said solemnly. "I'm sorry."

Mia fidgeted, grabbing Maya's robes and trying to cover her ample cleavage. "I've got to say she doesn't dress very appropriately. Especially for a government building like this."

"Actually…" Phoenix blushed and averted his eyes. "Those are yours."

"The robes?"

"Uh… no." He said, scratching his nose and trying to appear nonchalant.

A look of mortified understanding crossed Mia's face. She blushed for a moment, before that look was replaced by one of confusion. "But I thought you just said I was possessing her."

"It's… complicated." Phoenix said, before quickly changing the subject. He had less than twenty minutes to get answers out of Mia while also coming up with a workable defense. "But anyways, is there _anything _you remember?"

The woman shook her head. "Nothing before about a day ago."

"Nothing about being a lawyer?"

"No."

"What about your sister? Maya?"

"Nothing."

"Not even your name?"

She didn't say anything for a second. Then, quietly, "What _is _my name?"

Phoenix didn't know why, but he hesitated for just a moment. her name had a… weight to it. The woman had been his teacher, his chief. But more than that, she had saved his life. She was a trusted friend. Her very name was even powerful enough to exorcise a particularly malevolent spirit. "Mia Fey."

The corner of Mia's mouth curled into a small smile, and for a moment, Phoenix saw his confident mentor again. "Mia Fey… I like that."

Phoenix smiled back at her, before adopting a more serious expression. "Unfortunately, I really don't have much time, so we've got to hurry. What is the first thing you remember?"

Mia crossed her arms in thought. "I'm not sure. A lot of it is fuzzy. I'm even having trouble remembering recent things."

"Hmm…" Phoenix scratched his chin. He really needed to hurry things up, but he didn't want to push Mia too hard either. Amnesia was not a fun thing.

"I… I think I remember a shop of some kind." Mia said slowly. "There was food there. Bread and muffins and those sorts of things."

Phoenix blinked. It couldn't be. "You mean, like a bakery?"

"Yes." Mia said, her face brightening. "I think it was a bakery."

A bakery. Phoenix himself just recently returned from the grave in a bakery. And it sounded like Mia had been there without a body, just like Sissel. That couldn't be a coincidence. "What else?"

Mia's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure. The early things are really hard to remember."

Phoenix glanced at the clock on the wall. The recess was already almost over, and he still hadn't talked to Maggey. Finding out the rest would have to wait. "I'm sorry, Mia, but I've got to prepare for the trial. Could you stick around?"

The former defense attorney smiled grimly. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go."

"Anyways, Maggey." Phoenix began. The defendant shrank back nervously. Strange, that wasn't like her. "I'm sorry, this is probably really confusing for you too, huh?"

Maggey looked a little relieved and shrugged. "Not really, sir. Even though I'm not an officer anymore, I still love to come here and watch trials. Yours especially get very exciting. I was here for your last case involving the spirit channelling technique, so this isn't all that surprising."

_(So Maggey was here for _that _case, huh?) _Phoenix thought. That did simply things.

"…Mr. Wright." Maggey said slowly. "Spirit mediums can only channel spirits in their own bodies, right?"

Phoenix cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"Well…" Maggey said slowly. "They don't have any other… _special powers,_ do they?"

"I hadn't thought all that much about it." Phoenix admitted. Before yesterday, he'd always taken the Kurain Channeling technique at face value. "Why?"

But then the chains were back. The whipped and turned throughout his field of vision before wrapping around the young woman in front of him. Once again, three locks appeared before her. Phoenix's eyes widened. _(Suddenly, I think I have an idea about why Maggey's being so secretive…)_ He reached into his pocket. Time to put the Magatama to good use.

"Mr. Wright." Said a voice. Immediately, Phoenix's focus broke. The locks were gone, and he found himself able to once again perceive Mia and the bailiff, who had approached them.

No, not now…

"It's time to continue the trial." The court employee said.

Phoenix grit his teeth. _Just _when he thought he might be close to uncovering something.

* * *

Phoenix was snapped from his thoughts by the sharp slam of the Judge's gavel.

"Court will now reconvene." The Judge said, before casting a stern glare straight at Phoenix. "I trust the defense has composed itself?"

"Y-yes, Your Honor." Phoenix said. At his side stood Mia, who had gripped the front of her robes and was embarrassedly holding them shut.

The Judge raised an eyebrow before continuing. "Very well. While it is regrettable to end a trial in such a way, and despite the lack of testimony, the video evidence remains concrete proof that the defendant was indeed the only person inside the victim's apartment during the murder." Maggey stiffened. "As there does not appear to be anyone else capable of committing the crime, I shall pronounce my verdict. I hereby find the defendant-"

"**OBJECTION!" **Phoenix shouted, probably a little too desperately. Mia jumped a bit. Despite her attempts to keep under control, she was still acting a bit like a frightened rabbit. It was almost like those old court videos he'd seen of her. The Judge glared at him, and Phoenix shrank back ever so slightly before regaining his composure. "Your Honor." He said slowly. "In a case with so little evidence to go on, and _no _firsthand testimony of the crime, the defendant should have the chance to testify about it herself. After all, _she _was supposedly the only one present at the scene, right?"

The Judge stroked his beard. "Hmm… you do have a point, but I'm not sure how useful testimony of the crime would be coming from the defendant. It's natural to lie to defend oneself, after all. What do you think, Mr. Edgeworth?"

"While you make an excellent argument, Your Honor, I must agree with Wright at this current juncture." Edgeworth said calmly. "As members of the court, it is our duty to examine all relevant testimony. In a case with still so much uncertainty, I believe it would be unwise to pass judgement now."

There was a pregnant pause before the Judge finally nodded. "I agree. Although I'm not sure how useful the testimony would be in the long run, it would be foolhardy not the hear it at this point. The defendant may testify."

Phoenix bowed his head in relief. As he did so, two droplets of sweat fell from his forehead onto the desk. That had been too close. "Thank you, Your Honor."

A minute later, Maggey was on the stand. "Name and occupation, please." Edgeworth said.

"Maggey Byrde." She said, surprisingly loudly. Unlike most defendants on the stand, Maggey's back was straight and she actually looked professional for once.

_(It must be her police training coming back out…) _Phoenix thought.

"Right now, I'm a delivery girl for Mario's Pizza Castle." She continued.

"Hold on." The Judge said, confused. "Weren't you just here a few months ago? And weren't you a maid back then?"

"Waitress, actually." Maggey said with a blush. "But I got fired, so I now I'm a delivery girl."

Edgeworth looked Maggey in the eye and gave her the slightest of nods. That surprised Phoenix. Edgeworth was usually more impassive, even cold, to defendants. Was this his way of trying to be reassuring? "Please testify about your actions during the night of the crime."

Maggey nodded back. "Yes, sir." She paused, but only for a moment. "That night, I was to deliver a pizza to an apartment in the Watery Fowls building. I was really surprised when Detective Spade was the one who opened the door." She smiled softly. "He was always very kind to me back on the police force… Anyways, we hadn't seen each other for a while and it was my last delivery of the night, so he invited me in to talk. I don't know how long we talked together but eventually…" She paused, and looked down. "I fell asleep. I didn't wake up until I heard the police banging on the door. By then," She clenched her fists on the witness stand. "Detective Spade was already dead."

The Judge stroked his beard again. "So you claim you were asleep during the murder?"

"That's right, Your Honor." Maggey said.

He looked grim. "It is as I thought. As it stands, your testimony will not change anything. Without any proof of your claims, it appears as simply a convenient excuse."

Maggey's professional attitude broke, leaving her looking forlorn. She almost seemed like she wanted to cry. "I understand, Your Honor."

"I honestly see no reason to perform a cross-examination." The Judge continued. "However, the defense does still possess that right." He turned to Phoenix. "Mr. Wright, will you cross examine the witness?"

Phoenix nodded. "I will, Your Honor." He had no idea what he might find, but he had no choice in the matter. He wouldn't be getting any help now from Maya or from Mia. It would all be over if he couldn't find something in Maggey's testimony. But there was still the matter of those Psyche-Locks. Whatever Maggey was hiding, he would have to bring it out, and pray it could help them.

The Judge gave a short nod. "Somehow, I knew you would say that." Then, "This will be the final, cross-examination. Unless you find something crucial, Mr. Wright, I shall declare my verdict."

"I understand." Phoenix, with a gulp. He turned back to Maggey. _(Here we go… I'm sorry, Maggey, but I will get the truth out of you. By force if necessary.) _He would first start small; gather any and all information her could. "You were surprised when you saw Detective Spade? Wouldn't his name have been on the order, or something?"

Maggey shook her head. "No, sir. After delivering pizzas all the time, there was no real reason to look at the name on the receipt before delivering them."

"And then you just went on in?" Phoenix said. "Didn't you have to, I don't know, take the money back to base or something?"

She grinned sheepishly. "Well, he had already paid with a credit card, so all he had to do was sign the receipt. I figured I could get away with being a little late back. I just kind of lost track of time is all. My shift ended right as I delivered the pizza, anyway."

"But didn't you have to get back to clock out, or something like that?"

Maggey shook her head. "No. Mr. Mario doesn't like employees wasting company time. If we're not back by the time our shift is scheduled to end, then it's on our own time."

_(I'm not sure if that's good business model…_) "Okay, then. What time was all of this?"

Maggey looked thoughtful. "It would have to have been around 10:30 or so."

"Well, Mr. Wright. Was any of what the witness just said important?" The Judge asked.

Phoenix looked thoughtful before shaking his head. "No. No, I don't think so." He returned his attention to Maggey. The Judge was liable to start getting impatient, so it was time to start pressing her harder. "So you fell asleep." It wasn't even a question, really. He already knew Maggey was lying.

The defendant nodded defiantly. "Yes, I did."

"And the victim didn't think to wake you, even though you still had a job to complete?"

Maggey shrugged. "I guess not. I admit I don't really know what he was thinking."

"Okay, so let's say you were asleep." Phoenix pressed. "Wouldn't the gunshot have woken you up? I find it hard to believe that knocking on the door would do that, but a gunshot wouldn't."

She gripped her arm uncomfortably. "I can't explain it. That's just what happened."

Phoenix was starting to get annoyed again. Why couldn't even his own clients be honest for once? "I don't believe you, Maggey."

"**OBJECTION!" **Edgeworth slammed his desk with his right palm. "Wright, do you have any evidence to back up this claim of yours?"

Phoenix grimaced. "Not really, but…"

The Judge slammed his gavel. "Mr. Wright, I will not tolerate any shenanigans at this point." He said sternly. "While your theory does make some sense, you know very well that you must present evidence to support it."

The defense slumped. "I"m… sorry, Your Honor." Did he have _anything _that could prove Maggey wasn't doing what she said? He didn't think so, especially since he still had no idea what she was _actually _doing. He was running out of statements to press, but there was still a line or two of questioning that he could pursue.

"What did the two of you talk about?" Phoenix asked.

Maggey shrugged. "Lots of things. My time on the force, how we were doing, that sort of thing." She smiled. "I'm grateful I had the opportunity to tell him I didn't blame him for firing me."

"Wh-wh-_what_?!" The Judge sputtered. "He _fired _you?"

Edgeworth piped up. "Indeed. Ms. Byrde was known on the police force for having notoriously awful luck, and it eventually lost her the job."

"But… that sounds like a motive!" The Judge said.

"**OBJECTION!" **Phoenix said quickly. He had to try to squash this line of thinking fast. "Ms. Byrde has just stated that she did _not _blame the victim for her firing. Furthermore, if what Edgeworth said is true, it sounds like she would have lost her job soon anyway."

"You didn't have to put it like that…" Maggey said dejectedly, before straightening up. "But Mr. Wright is… well… right. I could tell I wasn't going to last much longer after…" She looked away. "After Dustin died."

"Dustin?" The Judge asked, confused.

"Dustin Prince." Edgeworth said, reading from a report. "He was Ms. Byrde's boyfriend two years ago, before he died in an unrelated incident."

The Judge's face brightened up. "Oh, that's right! I remember that!" He looked pityingly at Maggey. "You sure do have bad luck, don't you?"

"You're telling me." She said. "After the scandal that trial caused, I knew my time was running short. Just because Detective Spade happened to be the one to fire me doesn't mean anything. If he hadn't done it, someone else would have. Everything always just goes wrong for me." At this point, Maggey just seemed to be talking to herself. "Everyone close to me always ends up dead. I try to be positive about the whole thing, but…"

_(Oh, Maggey…) _Phoenix was about to interject. He'd never seen Maggey in such despair, and he knew firsthand about how the weight of the world could just pile up on the witness stand… and in the defendant's chair.

But then Maggey perked up. She didn't seem happy, but something had just occurred to her, and it excited her. "Hold on a second. Detective Spade mentioned something about that."

"About what?" Phoenix asked.

"About dying."

"H-huh?" Phoenix, Edgeworth and the Judge all said in unison. Immediately the gallery broke out into confused murmurs, but they were quickly silenced by the slam of the gavel.

"Order! Ms Byrde! What exactly do you mean?"

"It was just something he said in passing." Maggey admitted. "I didn't think much about it until now, but Detective Spade was worried someone was going to try coming after him."

"Who?!" Phoenix said, the tops of his hands white as his palms pressed into the table. "Who was after him?"

"I-I don't know." She said. "He just told me he'd set up precautions in case anything happened… in order to catch the killer."

"Like the camera." Edgeworth realized.

Maggey nodded. "Right, like the camera."

The Judge looked thoughtful. "And that would mean that his precautions did precisely what they were supposed to. They captured the image of the defendant entering his apartment on the night of his murder!" The gallery began to murmur again, but they were once again silenced.

"W-wait!" Maggey said hastily. "It wasn't me, I swear!'

Phoenix was already mid-point at the Judge by now. "**OBJECTION!** Your Honor, why would he tell her that if she was the one going to murder her?"

"**OBJECTION!" **Came Edgeworth's voice. "Unless Ms. Byrde was the one pursuing him and he was just unaware of that fact. That, or it very well could have been a coincidence."

"**OBJECTION!"** Phoenix replied. "Irregardless of whether Maggey was after the victim, there was no logical reason for her to murder him if she knew about the camera."

The Judge nodded. "You make a valid point, Mr. Wright. However, the problematic piece of evidence is still the video footage. There is still nothing to suggest that anyone other than the defendant or the victim were inside the apartment that night."

"But-"

"While it would have been illogical for the defendant to kill the victim, the fact remains that there was no one else there." The Judge continued. "Plus as there was no actual video footage of the crime, perhaps she thought she could escape and explain away the footage of the door. Or, better yet, take it with her." He nodded thoughtfully. "As a prosecutor once told me, once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the truth."

Phoenix grit his teeth. _(He told _ME _that, Your Honor.) _This was bad. Nothing he said could put a dent in that security needed a leg to stand on, and quick. He peered into his briefcase to find something, _anything _that could help him. There were files and folders; nothing he had time to reread at the moment. He spotted that signed softball. _(Oh yeah, I forgot I took that…) _But could it help him? Doubtful. And… a stuffed bear?

No, not _a _stuffed bear. _The _stuffed bear. The one he'd found at the crime scene. He was about to turn to Maya and ask if she stole it from the apartment while he wasn't looking, but then he remembered she was still channelling her sister. Mia had been remarkably quiet the whole time, just drinking in the courtroom proceedings. It had to be nice to not have to immediately get up and defend someone right after losing your memories. He couldn't believe Maya would even _want _a stuffed bear after what they'd gone through. Even now, he still couldn't look at one without thinking of Juan Corrida's hotel room.

_(Wait, hold on.) _Thinking back to that case made something occur to him."Isn't that a little odd?"

Edgeworth said what everyone else was thinking. "Isn't _what _a little odd, Wright?"

"We've established that Hercule Spade was a very thorough and organized man." Phoenix said, tapping the autopsy report with his hand. "Furthermore, he thought that there was someone who might attempt to kill him, so he set up a camera just in case. And yet…" Phoenix placed his palms on the desk. "We also know that he was a detective who had testified in this very courtroom before."

"Yes, go on." The Judge prompted rather unnecessarily.

"If that were the case, would he really only leave one recording? Especially one that has caused us so much trouble?"

"Hmm…" The Judge closed his eyes in thought. "Yes, that does seem strange." He opened his eyes. "So you're suggesting that Hercule Spade had other cameras besides the one in that orange sculpture?"

Phoenix nodded. "Precisely, Your Honor. Why would someone hide their only method of recording in such a gaudy… thing?"

The Judge nodded as well. "You make an excellent point, Mr. Wright. But where could these cameras be hidden?"

Phoenix shrugged. "_Anywhere_, really. Nowadays you could hide cameras in pretty much any household objects. A phone, a statue, a stuffed bear…"

Edgeworth's eyes widened as he spotted the toy in Phoenix's hand. "Wright… are you suggesting…?"

Phoenix nodded. "I think I am." He was about to rip the bear open when he spotted a zipper concealed on the back. "Hmm…" He unzipped it and reached into the stuffing. After feeling around for a moment, his fingers brushed something smooth and plastic. "I think I've found something…" He wrapped his fingers around it and pulled, dislodging…

A small digital camera, and a miniature hard drive.

* * *

A quick examination of the camera (once the understandably talkative gallery had been quieted) revealed that the hard drive had been jerry-rigged to automatically save the recordings from the camera. It wasn't long before the bailiff had hooked it up to a display, and now the entire court was watching with bated breath as he fast-forwarded through its contents. Soon, the image of Maggey's bright red coat appeared on the screen and he returned the video to its normal speed. There was a time-stamp on the video: 10:37. Maggey was speaking over her shoulder to someone out of frame, but Phoenix couldn't hear any words.

"Baliff! Where is the sound?" The Judge demanded.

"There doesn't seem to be any, Your Honor. The display is at full volume." The bailiff explained.

"Well that's not very helpful at all, is it?" The Judge grumbled.

_(What are you glaring at me for?)_

"It is possible that the connection or the hard drive itself was damaged during whatever created the mess." Edgeworth offered.

That seemed entirely plausible. What stood out to Phoenix most, however, was the fact that the apartment appeared to be in immaculate condition. The bear had been propped high on a shelf, and its fisheye lens had a view of nearly the entire living room area. Nowhere was the mess that Phoenix had seen in his investigation of the apartment: Shelves were untouched, the floor was spotless, and the coffee table books were actually on the coffee table. That meant that they were almost certainly about to discover what had caused the mess. Despite himself, Phoenix felt himself getting excited. The uncertainty of what he might discover was unsettling, but he couldn't help but feel some hope. He had been trapped in a corner, but now he had a lifeline. Whatever he discovered in this video could become another weapon for defending Maggey.

Maggey sat on a nearby couch before Hercule Spade walked into frame carrying two plates of pizza slices. He was speaking to Maggey and laughing as he sat down in a wooden chair next to the her. Maggey stood, presumably to offer the older man her seat, but he said something, and she sat back down. He then handed her one of the plates and the two began eating.

"That man…" Mia said. Phoenix jumped. He'd almost forgotten she was there. It was very odd for Mia to be so quiet.

"What about him?" Phoenix whispered.

"I… I think I know him." She said slowly.

Phoenix almost shouted, but managed to keep his volume low. "You do? But how?"

Mia gripped the robe tighter. "I can't remember. He just… he just seems familiar to me."

_(So you remember this guy but not me?) _Whoever he was, he must have been important, right? If only Mia didn't have amnesia!

As Maggey and Hercule continued to talk, the Judge glanced on the clock at the wall. "How long did you two talk for, again?"

Maggey shrugged, her eyes glued to the screen. "I don't know. An hour maybe, more?"

"The Prosecution suggests we fast-forward to a time closer to the victim's time of death." Edgeworth said.

The Judge nodded. "I agree. Any objections, Mr. Wright?"

Phoenix hesitated. He really wanted to get to the bottom of Maggey's Psyche-Locks, and there could be something in this early footage that would let him do just that. Even so, what he was most eager about was whether the recording showed the murder. If that was the case, that would be the fastest way to proving Maggey's innocence. Either way, he doubted it could hurt them any more. He knew Maggey was innocent. Therefore, the worst this video could show them would be nothing.

Right?

"I have no objections, Your Honor."

"Very well." The Judge returned his attention to the bailiff. "Please fast forward to, oh, 11:30."

The man did as he was told, and soon they were looking at… pretty much the exact same thing. During the fast forwarding, Phoenix had spotted the two subjects move around a bit, but they mostly stayed in the same place. Even an hour later, they were still talking, but they definitely seemed less animated. Was it just because they were tired? Or were they discussing something more serious? Aside from that, all that had apparently changed were the number of uneaten pizza crusts to appear on their plates. Phoenix glanced at Maggey, who was leaning forward and staring fiercely at the screen. That was odd. From what he knew of Maggey's personality, he would have expected her to avert her eyes, or at least clutch her arm for comfort. She was mouthing something. "I have to see…"

"…Maggey?"

"Oh, sorry. It's nothing." She didn't take her eyes from the screen even for a moment.

Phoenix returned his attention to the video. Why was Maggey acting like this? What was going to happen?

He didn't have to wait long. After a few minutes, something occurred. Phoenix barely noticed it at first, and evidently neither did the two people on the video. But there, in the center of the coffee table, Spade's plate began to wobble. Soon enough it drew their attention, before rising into the air.

_(WHAT?!)_

"The plate…" Edgeworth began, his expression confused.

"It's _floating!_" The Judge gasped. Immediately, the gallery exploded into murmurs, but the Judge did nothing to silence them. Everyone was too enraptured by the video, and none more than Phoenix Wright.

After hovering for another moment, the plate shot off randomly and crashed into a wall. It shattered, but then a nearby lamp rose into the air to repeat the process. Its bulb flickered and failed the cord was pulled from its outlet and the lamp shot off like the plate. By now, Hercule Spade was on his feet and wildly looking around. Maggey, on the other hand, had fainted. Phoenix finally tore his eyes from the screen to look at the real Maggey. She was pale, and her eyes were still glued to the screen. And all of a sudden, Phoenix couldn't blame her for lying. _(Asleep, huh?)_

The chaos continued. The most random of objects continued to fly around the room - but, notably, never more than one at a time - as Hercule Spade tried to keep up with his eyes. Then, without warning, he ran off screen. The pandaemonium didn't let up, until a shoe flew up and struck the camera. It fell to its side, and began filming the blank wall near the shelf.

Neither of the attorneys, nor Mia, Maggey or the Judge, did anything. They just continued to stare at the screen as the gallery talked away. Finally, the Judge spoke.

"Is… is that it?"

"I think it might be." Phoenix said. "I think I found the bear in the same position as it was at this point in the video." His heart fell. That meant…

"The camera did not capture the murder after all." Edgeworth said. He almost sounded disappointed.

"But what it did catch was extraordinary!" The Judge proclaimed. "Everything was flying around, as if by magic! What do you make of it, Mr. Edgeworth?"

"It _is_ perplexing." The prosecutor agreed. "Unfortunately, I cannot offer any explanations at the moment."

Phoenix could. He could only think of one possible explanation: Sissel. Really, what else could it be? Something controlled household objects at the crime scene and made them behave unnaturally. Sure, Sissel was at Kurain Village most of the night, but he had explained on the train that he could travel through phone lines. How difficult would it have been to get there after everyone went to sleep?

Phoenix finally understood why Maggey had kept quiet. How could anyone believe that if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes? Even so, he now had is own conundrum. Should he chime in with his thoughts? He had always believed that the truth was the most important thing in court, but how could he offer an explanation without sounding like a lunatic?

"What about you, Mr. Wright?" The Judge asked. "Do you have anything to say about this video footage?"

"I…" Phoenix rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I'm not sure."

Edgeworth's eye twitched ever so slightly. Phoenix was positive that the man knew he was hiding something. The question was, would he act on his suspicions?

"You're not sure about what happened, or you're not sure you should say anything?" The Judge clarified.

"I… I'm not sure?" Phoenix repeated.

"Mr. Wright. If you have a theory, I would like to hear it." Apparently even the Judge was suspicious of Phoenix's non-answer.

Phoenix gulped. It was now or never. "Well… Your Honor… I was thinking it could be… a ghost?"

You could hear a pin drop. Then, the silence broke as the gallery exploded into conversation.

"**OBJECTION!" **Edgeworth was not amused. "A ghost? That's preposterous, Wright!"

"**OBJECTION!" **Phoenix countered. There was no going back now. "What's so hard to believe, Edgeworth? You yourself have seen proof that ghosts exist! And you, as well, Your Honor. Need I remind you of the trial of _State v. Iris_?"

"**OBJECTION!" **Edgeworth shouted. "While I must concede your point about the legitimacy of Kurain Channeling Technique," He did not sound happy to say it at all. "Said technique has absolutely nothing to do with levitating objects!"

"**OBJECTION!" **Phoenix shouted. "But we have seen proof of the existence of ghosts. It stands to reason that they could levitate things. Besides, what else could explain the video?"

"_**OBJECTION!" **_Edgeworth was absolutely livid now. "_The footage from the bear is entirely inconsistent with the Kurain Channeling Technique! _I've seen you grasping at straws more times than I can count, but this is a new low for you, Wright!"

"**ORDER! ORDER! ORDER!" **The Judge bellowed. In fact, he had been yelling it for a while, but no one was paying him any heed. Finally, the gallery began to quiet down, and Phoenix and Edgeworth's shouting match subsided. "Mr. Wright. I must agree with Mr. Edgeworth here. I cannot accept your theory that a ghost was involved, _especially _if you have no evidence to back up your claims. Why, I recall there have been at least two other cases of yours in the past involving objects supposedly 'flying' that resulted in rather mundane explanations."

Phoenix grimaced. "I'm sorry, Your Honor."

The Judge eyed him cooly, before turning his attention back to the full courtroom. "I cannot end this trial now. There are far too many unanswered questions. What else can be learned from this video footage? Did the victim have any other cameras hidden in his apartment? But perhaps the most interesting question of all is just what happened to cause his belongings to 'fly' around his apartment? Both sides shall further investigate the crime scene and the footage, and the trial shall resume tomorrow."

Phoenix grit his teeth. He had another day. He should be happy. This would even give him the time to find Sissel and figure out his involvement. But still… if it was true that a ghost was behind the murder, how could he hope to get Maggey acquitted?

The Judge slammed his gavel one final time. "Court is adjourned."

* * *

_And there we have it. Thus ends the first day in court. Phoenix sure is going to have his work cut out for him in this case. Unfortunately, while I have made progress on the next chapter, this is an extremely busy week for me, so I won't be able to get it out seven days from now. Oh well, I hope you've enjoyed these last three weeks. I won't make you wait over a year for the next batch of updates, I promise._


End file.
